The effect of response uncertainty on illusory biases of perception and action.

Full Abstract

When task requirements were known in advance, Glazebrook et al. [C.M. Glazebrook, V.P. Dhillon, K.M. Keetch, J. Lyons, E. Amazeen, D.J. Weeks, D. Elliott, Perception-action and the Müller-Lyer illusion:
amplitude or endpoint bias?, Exp. Brain Res. 160 (2005) 71-78.] demonstrated that perceptual biases associated with the Müller-Lyer illusion resulted from a misperception of figure extent, while manual aiming biases resulted from a misperception of vertex position. In this study, we examined the degree to which prior knowledge of task requirements influenced how participants coded visual-spatial information associated with Müller-Lyer configurations. Specifically, we investigated how illusory biases are affected when uncertainty exists as to whether participants will be required to make a perceptual-cognitive decision about the length of a figure or complete a rapid aiming movement to a figure vertex. Although aiming movements were completed in a similar manner regardless of the prior knowledge condition, perceptual biases were associated with a misperception of extent when the task was known and a misperception of both extent and position when the task was unknown. These findings indicate that people are flexible in the manner in which they code visual-spatial information.

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Author information

Author/s: Keetch, Katherine M (KM); Glazebrook, Cheryl M (CM); Lyons, James (J); Lam, Melanie Y (MY); Weeks, Daniel J (DJ); Elliott, Digby (D);

Affiliation: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont., L8S 4K1 Canada. keetchkm(-atsign-)mcmaster.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Neuroscience letters (Neurosci Lett), published in Ireland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Oct; vol 406 (issue 1-2) : pp 117-21

Dates: Created 2006/08/28; Completed 2006/11/03; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16901634, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Bias (Epidemiology)
Decision Making - physiology
Female
Humans
Illusions - physiology
Judgment - physiology

Judgment - physiology
Male
Movement - physiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Photic Stimulation
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology

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