Asymmetric Influence of Egocentric Representation onto Allocentric Perception

Objects in the visual world can be represented in both egocentric and allocentric coordinates. Previous studies have found that allocentric representation can affect the accuracy of spatial judgment relative to an egocentric frame, but not vice versa. Here we asked whether egocentric representation influenced the processing speed of allocentric perception. We measured the manual reaction time of human subjects in a position discrimination task in which the behavioral response purely relied on the target's allocentric location, independent of its egocentric position. We used two conditions of stimulus location: the compatible condition-allocentric left and egocentric left or allocentric right and egocentric right; the incompatible condition-allocentric left and egocentric right or allocentric right and egocentric left. We found that egocentric representation markedly influenced allocentric perception in three ways. First, in a given egocentric location, allocentric perception was significantly faster in the compatible condition than in the incompatible condition. Second, as the target became more eccentric in the visual field, the speed of allocentric perception gradually slowed down in the incompatible condition but remained unchanged in the compatible condition. Third, egocentric-allocentric incompatibility slowed allocentric perception more in the left egocentric side than the right egocentric side. These results cannot be explained by interhemispheric visuomotor transformation and stimulus-response compatibility theory. Our findings indicate that each hemisphere preferentially processes and integrates the contralateral egocentric and allocentric spatial information, and the right hemisphere receives more ipsilateral egocentric inputs than left hemisphere does.