Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2026

09:27
Eye Movements in Visual Duration Perception: Disentangling Stimulus from Time in Predecisional Processes
Published on: January 19, 2024
Flash-lag effect: complicating motion extrapolation of the moving reference-stimulus paradoxically augments the
Talis Bachmann1, Carolina Murd, Endel Põder
1Institute of Public Law, University of Tartu, Kaarli pst 3, 10119, Tallinn. Estonia. talis.bachmann@ut.ee
Psychological Research
|August 6, 2011
Summary
The flash-lag effect, where moving objects appear ahead of stationary ones, is challenged by new findings. Unexpectedly, an approaching stimulus moving in the opposite direction intensifies this visual perception phenomenon.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- The flash-lag effect demonstrates predictive mechanisms in human perception.
- It's theorized that visual extrapolation causes perceived displacement of moving objects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the flash-lag effect with novel experimental conditions.
- To challenge existing prediction/extrapolation theories of visual perception.
Main Methods:
- Introduction of a new experimental paradigm to study the flash-lag effect.
- Presentation of stimuli with varying motion directions relative to a reference flash.
Main Results:
- A stimulus approaching the reference stimulus from the opposite direction did not reduce the flash-lag effect.
- This counter-directional approach paradoxically augmented the flash-lag effect.
Conclusions:
- Existing prediction/extrapolation models may not fully explain the flash-lag effect.
- The results suggest complex interactions in visual processing beyond simple predictive extrapolation.
Related Concept Videos
Framing Effects
Information is everywhere and its presentation—such as how and when items are presented—can impact our perceptions and decisions surrounding the info. This broad concept umbrellas framing effects—influences that occur due to the way information is framed in its appearance, whether it’s purely the order or the specific wording of a message. Let’s take a look at numerous ways in which two versions of something can objectively say the same thing, yet we respond in different ways based on the...
Social Facilitation
Not all intergroup interactions lead to negative outcomes. Sometimes, being in a group situation can improve performance. Social facilitation occurs when an individual performs better when an audience is watching than when the individual performs the behavior alone. This typically occurs when people are performing a task for which they are skilled.
Muscle Stimulation Frequency
The contraction strength of muscles is regulated by motor neurons, which modulate the frequency of action potentials dispatched to the motor units based on the body's requirements. This process of varying the muscle stimulation frequency allows muscles to contract with a force that is precisely tailored to the needs of the moment, whether lifting a feather or a heavy box.
Wave summation
At low firing rates, motor neurons induce individual twitch contractions in muscle fibers. These twitches...
Wave summation
At low firing rates, motor neurons induce individual twitch contractions in muscle fibers. These twitches...

