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Time course of the blindness to response-compatible stimuli
1Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research, Munich, Germany. wuehr@mpipf-muenchen.mpg.de
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|October 20, 2001
Summary
We experience "blindness to response-compatible stimuli" when a visual stimulus shares features with an executed action. This perception deficit occurs specifically during the response execution phase, not before or after.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Human Perception
- Action Planning
Background:
- The phenomenon of
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the temporal dynamics of stimulus identification deficits related to response compatibility.
- To differentiate between perception-based and memory-based explanations for this blindness effect.
Main Methods:
- Five experiments were conducted involving timed responses.
- Stimulus presentation timing was systematically varied relative to response execution.
- Participants performed tasks requiring stimulus identification and response execution.
Main Results:
- A significant "blindness to response-compatible stimuli" effect was observed when stimuli were presented between response cue offset and response execution.
- Stimulus identification remained unaffected by response compatibility when stimuli were presented before the response cue or after response execution.
- These findings challenge retention-based explanations for the observed effect.
Conclusions:
- Perceptual processing of stimulus features is impaired during the integration of shared perception-action codes for response execution.
- The results support an explanation centered on the interference within perception-action systems during response preparation and execution.
- This provides insight into the temporal constraints of visual perception within the context of action.
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