Effects of spatial separation in visual pattern matching: evidence on the role of mental translation.
Effects of the spatial separation between 2 simultaneously presented random patterns on the ability to determine whether the patterns are identical up to a translational displacement across the retina were investigated by using signal-detection methods. The patterns to be compared were presented on the periphery of an imaginary circle centered on fixation. Exposures were brief and postmasked. In Experiments 1 and 2, sensitivity (d') varied with exposure duration but not with the spatial separation between the patterns. In Experiment 3, the task was changed so that members of a "same" pair could differ by both a translation and a rotation. When the rotational component was O, d' was a monotonic decreasing function of the spatial separation between the stimuli. Apparently, in the special case, performance was based on mental alignment by a process of gradual mental translation of one of the members of a stimulus pair to the location of the other one.
Larsen
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Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. axel@axp.psl.ku.dk
Bundesen
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*