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The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

Unmet expectations about material properties delay perceptual decisions.

Amna Malik¹, Katja Doerschner², Huseyin Boyaci³

¹Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, Bilkent University, Ankara 06800, Turkey; Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center & National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, Ankara 06800, Turkey.

Vision Research

|April 22, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Our expectations about how objects behave influence our perception. Even when expectations are unusual, unmet predictions slow down decision-making, showing how prior beliefs shape our understanding of the physical world.

Keywords:

Dynamic material properties Expectation Perceptual decisions

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Perception Science
Material Dynamics

Background:

Humans implicitly predict object behavior based on material properties.
The impact of these expectations on low-level perceptual decisions is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how expectations about material properties affect perceptual decision-making.
To determine if learned atypical expectations influence these perceptual processes.

Main Methods:

A behavioral experiment using animations of falling objects was conducted.
Participants trained to form expectations (typical or atypical) about object dynamics.
Participants judged if objects broke upon impact, with expectations unmet in 20% of trials.

Main Results:

Reaction times increased when expectations were unmet, regardless of whether they were typical or learned.
An interaction between long-term and newly learned expectations was observed.
Perceptual decision-making was influenced by prior expectations about material properties.

Conclusions:

Expectations about material properties significantly impact low-level perceptual decision-making.
Both ingrained and recently acquired expectations modulate how we perceive physical events.
This research highlights the predictive nature of perception in understanding object interactions.