No error on the side of safety: No representational momentum for auditory looming stimuli

The looming bias describes systematic differences in the perception of looming as compared to receding stimuli. To date, the most prominent and successful theory put forward to account for this bias is the adaptive bias theory, based on the more general error management theory framework, which argues for a perceptual bias for looming stimuli to err on the side of safety. We challenge this notion by providing evidence using the established probe comparison task from the representational momentum literature, in which the final stimulus configuration is probed. For intensity-changing sounds indicating looming/receding sound sources, no systematic overestimation in intensity change direction for the perceived final sound intensity of looming, approaching stimuli was observed. Across two auditory experiments using either classical sine wave (Experiment 1) or more complex tones (Experiment 2), we replicated the finding of no shift in intensity change direction for looming stimuli, even when accounting for general, change-independent biases. We provide an alternative framework, the speed prior account of motion perception, to explain the present, as well as further, currently unexplained findings in the literature.