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Back from the future: Volitional postdiction of perceived apparent motion direction.
Liwei Sun1, Sebastian M Frank1, Kevin C Hartstein1
1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, USA.
Vision Research
|September 26, 2017
Summary
Humans can consciously alter their perception of past events within a short window. This demonstrates that our brain integrates sensory information with our own commands during a specific temporal window.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Physical events cannot alter their own past due to causality.
- Mental events, however, are products of neuronal processes with finite durations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if volitional control can influence the interpretation of past events.
- To explore the temporal limits of top-down influence on perception.
Main Methods:
- Participants were presented with an ambiguous apparent motion sequence.
- They were instructed to volitionally influence their perception.
- The timing of the volitional command relative to the motion event was varied.
Main Results:
- Humans can alter their perception of an ambiguous motion sequence.
- This influence is possible up to 300ms after the event.
- Perception is constructed through integration of bottom-up and top-down inputs.
Conclusions:
- The brain has a temporal integration window for perception.
- Top-down commands can modify ongoing perceptual interpretations.
- This challenges the notion of a fixed, immutable perception of recent events.
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