Observer's control of the moving stimulus increases the flash-lag effect.
The flash-lag effect (FLE) consists in perceiving a briefly presented stationary stimulus to lag behind an aligned moving stimulus. This study investigates the effects of actively controlling the moving stimulus. By means of a robotic arm, observers continuously moved a dot along a circular trajectory, and a flash was displayed closely at unpredictable times. In two experiments, we found that the FLE was larger when participants controlled the moving stimulus, compared to a computer-controlled condition. Two control conditions tested the possibility that the observed modulation of the FLE was due to visuo-spatial attention or dual-task factors. This study provides evidence that the motor system interacts with and possibly speeds up the processing of a moving visual stimulus when the observer controls its movement.
Scocchia
Lisa
L
Laboratory of Action, Perception and Cognition, San Raffaele Vita-Salute University, Milan, Italy.
Grosso
Rossana Actis
RA
de'Sperati
Claudio
C
Stucchi
Natale
N
Baud-Bovy
Gabriel
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009903:Optical Illusions / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012371:Robotics; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult