搜索结果：Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance

Body movement perception is shaped by knowledge of the human body biomechanics. Apparent motion from rapidly alternating pictures follows the shortest path between two body postures only if it is biomechanically plausible. And although we tend to perceive a moving body part as slightly shifted forward along its trajectory, this extrapolation is absent (or reduced) when the biomechanical constraints make continued movement unlikely. The received view is that perception is shaped by a model of the observer's own body. Here, we present three lines of evidence challenging this view. First, we report the typical influence of knowledge of the upper-limb biomechanics on apparent movement perception and perceptual extrapolation in two individuals born without limbs (Experiments 1 and 2). Second, we report that these effects are independent of the observers' own flexibility (Experiment 3). Third, we show that perception is influenced by knowledge of actor-specific biomechanics (Experiments 4-8). We conclude that body movement perception relies on visually acquired models of both generic and actor-specific body biomechanics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The human ability to categorize scenes has been related to the usage of both object and global scene information. In three experiments (carried out in 2024), we compared the utility of these sources of information and assessed the time course of their usage by reducing scenes to single objects or visualizations of global scene information (textures). Experiment 1 showed that both types of information were of comparable utility under controlled viewing conditions and could be used concurrently. However, a simple combination of object and global scene information was not sufficient to explain fast scene categorization. Experiment 2 demonstrated how the participants' preference for either type of information varied over different stimulus-onset asynchronies between stimulus and mask as well as the objects' size and eccentricity. Experiment 3 showed that, on average, participants nonetheless benefitted from the presentation of object before global scene information in line with the notion of local-to-global information usage. In summary, we show that both object and global scene information are useful for human scene categorization. We further suggest that information usage over time is flexible and depends on the availability of object information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Four experiments tested the generality of Hummel's (2001) dual-route model of human object recognition with regard to object-selective attention. According to the model, objects are represented and processed in two different formats-analytic and holistic-that differ in their attentional demands and their invariance properties. A sequential-matching paradigm was used that employed compound stimuli consisting of a picture of an everyday object and a superimposed horizontal or oblique line. On each trial, a reference stimulus was followed by two lateral stimuli, a target and a distractor. Observers either attended (matched) the line (thus ignoring the object) or attended/matched the object (thus ignoring the line) within the compound stimulus. For the picture stimulus, visual similarity between target and reference was manipulated by using either an identical object image, its mirror-reflection, a split image, or an inverted version in the reference. The task was always to semantically match the reference to the target. The results showed distinct facilitation effects, in terms of a reduced response latency relative to a same-category-different-exemplar baseline, which were significantly larger for attended than ignored objects. Furthermore, the facilitation was reduced in the mirror and split relative to the identical condition, and for the inverted relative to the mirror condition. The effects of attention and manipulation were strictly additive-in line with the predictions of the dual-route model. Implications for theories of object recognition are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Recent research has highlighted the importance of information about adiposity in the visual perception of both bodies and faces. Behavioral and neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the existence of category-selective visual representations of faces and bodies, as well as integrated whole-person representations. It remains unknown whether visual perception of adiposity arises from category-selective or whole-person mechanisms. Here, we show that whole-person representations are involved by showing cross-category transfer of adaptation aftereffects to adiposity between faces and bodies. In Experiment 1, we demonstrate that adaptation to a gaunt face biases judgments of subsequently presented faces, complementing previous research demonstrating adiposity aftereffects in bodies. We then demonstrate cross-category transfer of such aftereffects from faces to bodies (Experiments 2 and 3) and from bodies to faces (Experiment 4). Cross-category transfer, however, was substantially weaker than within-category transfer and was not consistently observed across all individual conditions. A control study (Experiment 5) showed no adaptation when adapting face stimuli were inverted, suggesting that the effects are unlikely to result from nonspecific low-level features of the stimuli. These results demonstrate functional interactions between visual representations of faces and bodies in the perception of adiposity, suggesting the involvement of integrated whole-person representations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Speech perception gradiency reflects sensitivity to subphonemic differences. Prior research has shown that gradiency facilitates recovery from misperceptions (i.e., speech perception flexibility) in L1 (Kapnoula et al., 2021), but whether and how gradiency contributes to speech perception flexibility in L2 remains unknown. This study investigated the role of gradiency in spoken-word recognition among Spanish (L1)-English (L2) bilinguals. Gradiency was assessed using a Visual Analogue Scale with stop consonants (/b/-/p/), and initial activation of a lexical competitor and speech perception flexibility were assessed using an eye-tracking Visual World Paradigm task. Seventy Spanish-English bilinguals completed these tasks in both languages. Following previous results in L1 English, gradiency facilitated speech perception flexibility in L1 Spanish. In contrast, gradiency did not facilitate L2 speech perception; instead, a different pattern emerged: participants relied more heavily on lexical (top-down) than subphonemic (bottom-up) information, as would be expected given the less robust category representations in L2. In addition, a positive correlation between L1 and L2 gradiency was observed only among higher-proficiency listeners. Overall, these findings suggest that the functional role of gradiency in L1 versus L2 speech perception is modulated by the differential reliance on bottom-up versus top-down information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

To dissociate density-based and number-based explanations of the aftereffects affecting visually perceived numerosity, a preregistered psychophysical experiment was conducted with 60 participants. The experiment was designed to address a recent report claiming that numerosity aftereffects could not be explained by density adaptation. Each participant was adapted to either high- or low-density adapters that were either larger or the same size as the standard test patch. During separate measurement blocks, the perceived density, numerosity, and size of the test patch were each assessed using comparison stimuli that varied along all three dimensions, so that the intended test dimension was dissociable from the other two. The primary results showed that numerosity aftereffects were fully accounted for by a mixture of size and density adaptation, whereas density aftereffects were solely dependent on adapter density and unaffected by adapter size or number. Exploratory analyses found that large aftereffects in numerosity were correlated with measured aftereffects of patch size and density, whereas density and patch-size aftereffects showed no significant correlation with each other. Taken together, these results suggest that density and patch size are normally perceptual precursors of numerosity and that numerosity perception occurs at a later stage of processing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Facial expression and body posture provide rich information about other people's emotional states. Visual information about body posture rapidly and automatically influences perception of facial emotion. Even images of isolated hands carry rich information about emotion, but it is unknown whether this local information is automatically integrated with perception of facial emotion. We created composite stimuli in which facial emotional expressions (anger or fear) were superimposed onto bodies expressing either the same or a different emotion. We manipulated whether the full-body context was shown, or only the hands. Participants judged the emotion of the face, ignoring the bodily context. Consistent with previous findings, whole-body context exerted clear influence on the accuracy and speed judgments of facial emotion judgments. Critically, similar effects were found for faces presented in the context of isolated hands. This demonstrates that emotion from hands is automatically integrated with facial emotion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Lapses of sustained attention cause slips-of-action, but overt errors can be avoided if attention can be reoriented to task demands sufficiently quickly. Despite the ubiquity of such "near misses," little research has been dedicated to examining the speed of attentional recovery after a lapse of sustained attention. The present study investigated how frequently and how quickly participants are able to reorient attention after a lapse in a modification of the Sustained Attention to Response Task that required participants to make two simultaneous responses on target trials instead of withholding responses. On most trials in which a lapse occurred, participants were able to reorient attention well within the timeframe of a single trial, with corrective responses made within ∼200 ms of execution of the erroneous response, faster than responses to targets in a simple target detection task. These findings show, for the first time, that participants are able to rapidly and flexibly reorient attention to task demands after a lapse of sustained attention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Effective gaze-based joint attention requires distinguishing between communicative gaze and private gaze. Eye contact and repeated averted gaze shifts to the same location are key cues for gaze-based communication, but the temporal and perceptual dynamics of these cues in signaling communicative intent remain unclear. This study examines three perceptual properties of dynamic eye gaze displays and their influence on the perception of communicative intent. Autistic and nonautistic participants completed a semi-interactive task with an onscreen agent displaying dynamic eye movements searching for an object. Participants decided whether the agent was privately inspecting the objects or requesting the participant to "give" them one (i.e., attempting to communicate). We manipulated whether the agent displayed eye contact, made repeated gaze shifts at the same object, and the duration of gaze displays. We measured the frequency of "give" responses (indexing perceived communicative intent) and reaction times (indexing response certainty/bias). Participants were most likely to perceive communicative intent following displays comprising eye contact and repeated gaze. Gaze duration was a less potent signal, but increased perceptions of communicative intent in the absence of eye contact and repeated gaze. Autistic and nonautistic participants exhibited similar patterns, challenging the view that autistic people have broad "deficits" in understanding social gaze cues. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Parsing complex dynamic scenes is critical for navigating our visual world, and driving safely is a daily task that requires responding quickly to hazardous events. Theories of driver awareness suggest that drivers need to look at hazards to detect them, particularly in anticipation of hazard onset. Indeed, scene context may guide eye movements to likely hazard locations. However, given the complexity of real road scenes, drivers may rely instead on explicit cues of an impending collision before identifying the correct location. In 2024, we recorded eye position while 30 licensed drivers localized hazards in annotated dashcam footage. On correct trials, drivers started to look at where the hazard will be 2 s before onset, highlighting the importance of anticipatory processes in dynamic scene perception and safe driving. However, hazard-directed looking is not indicative of awareness, as 40% of missed hazards were foveated before response. Our results demonstrate early gaze guidance by scene context, which can help drivers anticipate hazards, an idea consistent with theories of driver awareness and with theories of visual search. However, looking directly at the hazard alone is not necessary or sufficient for hazard awareness and should not be used to index awareness in driver monitoring systems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

In visual near-threshold detection tasks, larger prestimulus pupil size is associated with improved accuracy. However, previous studies have used black-and-white peripherally presented stimuli, leaving open the question of whether the relationship persists when targets differ in their color or eccentricity. Here, we addressed this question with three experiments that systematically varied the lighting conditions and target properties in a visual near-threshold detection task (data collected in 2022-2024). Light conditions ranged from dark to dim to bright, with the dark condition including a period of dark adaptation. Possible target colors were blue and red on a black background (dark condition), blue and red on a gray background (dim condition), or yellow and cyan on a white background (bright condition). Possible target eccentricities ranged from parafoveal to peripheral, in a continuous manner (Experiment 3) or as two predefined near and far eccentricities (Experiments 1 and 2). Across all experiments, we show that larger prestimulus pupil size is associated with improved performance. This large-pupil advantage is not systematically modulated by the color or eccentricity of the targets, the illumination of the testing room, or the retinal adaptation state. We conclude that the phenomenon is robust, indicating that pupil size affects vision in a behaviorally relevant manner, regardless of the exact conditions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

In natural behavior, humans make trade-offs between sampling information from the visual environment and relying on memory. As is often the case, observers favor visual sampling when its cost is low (e.g., a sampling only takes a few saccades); but when the sampling cost is artificially increased (e.g., by imposing longer waiting times), they favor visual working memory over visual sampling. Studies investigating this ubiquitous trade-off have neglected the stability in the real world, where repetitive patterns may engage a different memory system: long-term memory (LTM). Two competing hypotheses were derived from previous studies: when stable environments allow the formation of LTM (and sampling costs are relatively low), observers may either (a) continue to rely on visual sampling, or (b) choose to favor memory over visual sampling. We provide evidence for the latter hypothesis, based on a copying task in which participants reproduced an example display containing several colored polygons that either changed or remained stable over consecutive trials. Experiment 1 showed that, when the example display was repeated, the sampling frequency and durations decayed exponentially, eventually disappearing entirely. In Experiments 2 and 3, we replicated the reduction in sampling behavior when only half of the example polygons were repeated. Moreover, participants' recall of repeated items on a surprise memory test predicted this reduction in sampling behavior, confirming the involvement of LTM. Our findings demonstrate that repetitive patterns in stable visual environments make memory use preferable over visual sampling by reducing memory cost through the recruitment of LTM. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Since the 1980s, the power law has been the dominant view of the trajectory of skill acquisition. More recent research has challenged this "law," suggesting other models may better capture individual-level data. Furthermore, the motor learning and recovery literature suggests dynamical models might better capture nonmonotonic behavior and the effect of feedback. This study compares the fits of six models on data from two mirror-tracing experiments with different feedback metrics delivered through haptics. This includes two power models, the exponential model, a hybrid power and exponential model, and two more recent dynamical models that allow for nonmonotonic learning curves and can incorporate the role of feedback. Like others before, these results show that the "power law" model is not necessarily the best way to describe individual learning. However, none of the models examined showed a clear advantage in fitting individual-level data, and we discuss multiple reasons why this might be the case. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This study investigated how observers compute the average attractiveness of groups of faces with different identities, presented via rapid serial visual presentation. In Experiment 1, participants rated the average attractiveness of group faces, revealing a recency effect where the last face had the greatest influence. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants compared the average attractiveness of groups (with members presented in ascending, random, or descending attractiveness order) against either the arithmetic-average face (AAF; where each member contributes equally) or the weighted-average face (WAF; using recency-based weights from Experiment 1; tested only in Experiment 3). Presentation order influenced judgments for AAFs but not for WAFs; furthermore, this confirms that rapid serial visual presentation-based group-attractiveness perception relies on weighted processing incorporating the recency effect. In Experiment 4, participants rated the average attractiveness of group faces, the attractiveness of group member faces, and AAF/WAFs, and completed a memory task. The results showed that participants estimate group-average attractiveness by combining individual members' attractiveness through a weighted average, rather than by matching it to the attractiveness of the WAF itself. The recency effect observed in the memory task suggests that the recency effect in ensemble perception of facial attractiveness may reflect broader principles of memory encoding that are based on postperceptual processing. These findings offer novel perspectives on the mechanisms of group-attractiveness perception and have potential implications for group impression formation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

How does the sensorimotor system control ultrarapid interceptive actions that must be completed within a few hundred milliseconds under high temporal pressure and spatial uncertainty? Such actions, as exemplified by baseball batting, require sophisticated coordination of perceptual and motor processes. The present experiment examined how these ultrafast interceptive movements are controlled by means of predictive and online processes as temporal constraints and spatial uncertainty were systematically varied. Eighteen skilled collegiate batters performed a high-fidelity virtual reality batting task in which time-to-contact (TTC: 500-375 ms) and spatial uncertainty (high/low) were orthogonally manipulated. Hitting performance (contact rate) remained stable at longer TTCs but declined once the available time fell below ∼425-400 ms, identifying a temporal boundary. As temporal urgency increased, swing initiation occurred earlier while swing duration remained constant, indicating predictive timing adjustments. However, timing error increased sharply near this boundary. Nevertheless, bat-head trajectories continued to diverge according to pitch location, and trial-by-trial variability increased at shorter TTCs, revealing within-swing online adjustments. Together, these findings demonstrate that the sensorimotor system coordinates predictive planning and online visual-motor adjustment within a narrow temporal window, suggesting that predictive and online control are integrated in a hybrid manner in temporal-urgency interception. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Dynamic touch allows individuals to perceive object properties such as weight and length through movement-based exploration. This study examined how subthreshold vibrotactile stimulation influences heaviness perception by leveraging the principles of stochastic resonance, which suggests that adding structured noise can enhance weak sensory signals. Specifically, we tested whether pink-noise stimulation (which mimics natural movement variability) improves perceptual accuracy more effectively than white noise or no stimulation. Ten participants completed wielding tasks while blindfolded, estimating the weight of objects under different noise conditions. Movement dynamics were analyzed using autoregressive fractionally integrated moving average modeling to assess the presence of long-range correlations (LRCs), a hallmark of fractal variability in biological systems. Results confirmed the presence of LRCs in wielding movements but revealed no consistent benefit of pink-noise stimulation on perceptual accuracy. Instead, we observed a complex interaction between noise type and object mass, with white noise increasing perceptual error at heavier weights. Contrary to expectations, stronger LRCs in wielding movements did not correlate with improved perception, suggesting that movement complexity alone does not guarantee perceptual accuracy. These findings challenge existing assumptions about the role of fractal dynamics in sensorimotor function and highlight the need for context-dependent models of stochastic resonance. Future research should explore how individual differences, task constraints, and stimulation intensity shape the effects of subthreshold noise on perception, with implications for sensory augmentation and rehabilitation strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

A fundamental question in psychology and neuroscience is whether expertise can generalize to improvements in basic sensory perception. Recent work suggests that musicians exhibit domain-general advantages in multisensory spatial integration, which has implications for our understanding of plasticity in sensory processing. Yet, the cause of this effect of expertise is unclear. Here, a preregistered sample of 35 musicians and 35 nonmusicians localized brief flashes and noise bursts, unimodally and bimodally, along the azimuth. Via Bayesian causal inference, we modeled participants' sensory precision and their prior tendency to perceptually integrate the stimuli (pcommon). As hypothesized, musicians exhibited less ventriloquism (audition biased toward vision) than nonmusicians, and this was captured by a reduced pcommon rather than by differences in sensory precision. Furthermore, although pcommon (and ventriloquism) was reduced after we told participants how often the stimuli were colocated, this did not eliminate the group difference in pcommon. Our results suggest that musicians have reduced susceptibility to a famous multisensory illusion, as accounted for by a Bayesian prior, and we show that such a prior (and illusory perception) can be modulated by a simple instruction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Social event cognition draws on both higher level semantic processes and lower level mechanisms in visual perception. However, the interaction between these levels has not yet been precisely characterized. The present article investigates whether the visual perception of social events is encapsulated from the direct, top-down influence of semantic information. To test this, we leverage a phenomenon reflecting the visual perception of social relations: the two-body inversion effect. Across a series of experiments conducted on French-speaking participants (N = 373), we identified a novel semantic priming effect: Verbs (as opposed to nouns) selectively enhance responses to socially relevant stimuli. However, the two-body inversion effect itself was not influenced by this priming effect, suggesting that the visual perception of social events is encapsulated from higher level semantic processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Language is inherently multimodal in nature. However, the extent to which verbal and gestural information are integrated to form a coherent meaning is still not fully understood. Although previous research has focused on iconic gestures, the present study investigates the integration of emblematic gestures-culturally specific gestures with direct verbal translations. Specifically, we examine how basic verbal and gestural affirmative and negative responses to polar questions are processed, both in isolation and in combination. Negation processing is known to be particularly demanding, making it an ideal test case for the multimodality-for-compensation hypothesis, which posits that multimodal cues are especially beneficial under increased processing difficulty. Across three experiments, participants responded to simple yes-no questions answered by either unimodal, compatible, or incompatible multimodal responses ("yes"/"no" in combination with head nods/shakes and thumbs up/down gestures). The results demonstrated consistent integration effects between verbal and gestural information, with stronger integration effects for affirmative compared with negative responses. The implications of these findings for theories of multimodal language processing are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).