| Do rotation coordinates provide the substrate for a mental protractor? | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 16355742 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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In previous studies, we have found that the accuracy in judging collinearity of lines or dots varies considerably from one subject to another as a function of the relative angle of the stimulus elements. A model of errors generally shows large excursions across several subranges of angular position. These do not appear to be motor errors, at least not ones that are well separated from perceptual mechanisms. The errors are most likely generated at primary visual cortex, or beyond. We examined and modeled accuracy in judging collinearity of dot pairs, varying the angular position of the dots through 360 degrees, the distance between the dots (stimulus span), and the distance at which the subject was required to respond (response span). Subjects manifested idiosyncratic profiles of error across angular positions, as reported previously. But across the tested range of spans, from 4 to 8 deg, the errors tended to be the same, irrespective of stimulus or response span. This suggests that the judgments are based on a radial (angular) measure of spatial position. We discuss these results in the context of proposals that the brain maps spatial position using rotation coordinates. These new data are consistent with the hypothesis that subjects use the z-axis coordinates as a mental protractor for judging angular position and collinearity. |
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Authors:
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Ernest Greene; William Frawley |
Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Perception Volume: 34 ISSN: 0301-0066 ISO Abbreviation: - Publication Date: 2005 |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2005-12-16 Completed Date: 2006-02-28 Revised Date: 2006-11-15 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 0372307 Medline TA: Perception Country: England |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 1339-52 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061, USA. egreene@usc.edu |
Export Citation:
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| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Humans Judgment Optical Rotation Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology Perceptual Distortion Psychological Tests Space Perception / physiology* |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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