title: Measuring causal perception: connections to representational momentum?
abstract: In a collision between two objects, we can perceive not only low-level properties, such as color and motion, but also the seemingly high-level property of causality. It has proven difficult, however, to measure causal perception in a quantitatively rigorous way which goes beyond perceptual reports. Here we focus on the possibility of measuring perceived causality using the phenomenon of representational momentum (RM). Recent studies suggest a relationship between causal perception and RM, based on the fact that RM appears to be attenuated for causally 'launched' objects. This is explained by appeal to the visual expectation that a 'launched' object is inert and thus should eventually cease its movement after a collision, without a source of self-propulsion. We first replicated these demonstrations, and then evaluated this alleged connection by exploring RM for different types of displays, including the contrast between causal launching and non-causal 'passing'. These experiments suggest that the RM-attenuation effect is not a pure measure of causal perception, but rather may reflect lower-level spatiotemporal correlates of only some causal displays. We conclude by discussing the strengths and pitfalls of various methods of measuring causal perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, Box 208205, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, United States. h.choi@yale.edu <h.choi@yale.edu>
authors.forename: Hoon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Scholl
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception; D011340:Problem Solving; D014796:Visual Perception