Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 14, 2026

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
The representational dynamics of remembered projectile locations
Nuno Alexandre De Sá Teixeira1, Heiko Hecht, Armando Mónica Oliveira
1Institute of Psychology, University Johannes Gutenberg.
Abstract:
When people are instructed to locate the vanishing location of a moving target, systematic errors forward in the direction of motion (M-displacement) and downward in the direction of gravity (O-displacement) are found. These phenomena came to be linked with the notion that physical invariants are embedded in the dynamic representations generated by the perceptual system. We explore the nature of these invariants that determine the representational mechanics of projectiles. By manipulating the retention intervals between the target's disappearance and the participant's responses, while measuring both M- and O-displacements, we were able to uncover a representational analogue of the trajectory of a projectile. The outcomes of three experiments revealed that the shape of this trajectory is discontinuous. Although the horizontal component of such trajectory can be accounted for by perceptual and oculomotor factors, its vertical component cannot. Taken together, the outcomes support an internalization of gravity in the visual representation of projectiles.
Related Concept Videos
Projectile Motion
When an object falls under gravity and has no horizontal...
Impact: Problem Solving
By designating the launch point as the origin and utilizing kinematic equations, the vertical component of the projectile's velocity at the point of impact is...
Projectile Motion: Example
When we speak of the range (R) of a projectile on level...
Motion of a Projectile
Horizontal motion, governed by the initial kick, maintains a constant velocity throughout the flight of the soccer ball.
Projectile Motion: Equations
Any projectile motion problem can be solved by using the following strategy:
Position and Displacement Vectors
Further, several important kinds of...
