The Moon Illusion and Size–Distance Scaling—Evidence for Shared Neural Patterns

Weidner, Ralph; Plewan, Thorsten; Chen, Qi; Buchner, Axel; Weiss, Peter H.; Fink, Gereon R.

doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00590

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…However, in the past the mechanisms underlying visual perception and attention have often been investigated using two-dimensional (2D) stimulus material, while only a minority of studies was concerned with the impact of 3D stimulus material (e.g., Downing and Pinker, 1985; Andersen, 1990; Andersen and Kramer, 1993; Theeuwes et al, 1998; Theeuwes and Pratt, 2003). The latter issue recently received more attention and was addressed by an increasing number of investigations (e.g., Bauer et al, 2012; Chen et al, 2012; Finlayson et al, 2013; Weidner et al, 2014; Finlayson and Grove, 2015; Wang et al, 2015, 2016; Jiang et al, 2016; Papenmeier and Schwan, 2016; Plewan and Rinkenauer, 2016). Some of these studies imply that perceptual mechanisms do not always correspond between 2D and 3D settings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast and Forceful: Modulation of Response Activation Induced by Shifts of Perceived Depth in Virtual 3D Space

Plewan

Rinkenauer

2016

Front. Psychol.

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Reaction time (RT) can strongly be influenced by a number of stimulus properties. For instance, there was converging evidence that perceived size rather than physical (i.e., retinal) size constitutes a major determinant of RT. However, this view has recently been challenged since within a virtual three-dimensional (3D) environment retinal size modulation failed to influence RT. In order to further investigate this issue in the present experiments response force (RF) was recorded as a supplemental measure of response activation in simple reaction tasks. In two separate experiments participants’ task was to react as fast as possible to the occurrence of a target located close to the observer or farther away while the offset between target locations was increased from Experiment 1 to Experiment 2. At the same time perceived target size (by varying the retinal size across depth planes) and target type (sphere vs. soccer ball) were modulated. Both experiments revealed faster and more forceful reactions when targets were presented closer to the observers. Perceived size and target type barely affected RT and RF in Experiment 1 but differentially affected both variables in Experiment 2. Thus, the present findings emphasize the usefulness of RF as a supplement to conventional RT measurement. On a behavioral level the results confirm that (at least) within virtual 3D space perceived object size neither strongly influences RT nor RF. Rather the relative position within egocentric (body-centered) space presumably indicates an object’s behavioral relevance and consequently constitutes an important modulator of visual processing.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast and Forceful: Modulation of Response Activation Induced by Shifts of Perceived Depth in Virtual 3D Space

Plewan

Rinkenauer

2016

Front. Psychol.

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“…Casual observation shows that the moon appears smaller when it is in the zenith and viewed by looking straight up than when it is close to the horizon and viewed straight ahead. Although the illusion continues to defy complete explanation (Hershenson, 1989; Ross and Plug, 2002; Weidner et al, 2014), it is usually explained with reference to changes in the moon’s perceived distance. We (Harris and Mander, 2014) were the first to measure the effect of posture (and perceived posture) on the perceived distance of objects at biologically significant distances (Cutting and Vishton, 1995), as opposed to the unknowable distance of celestial bodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How our body influences our perception of the world

et al. 2015

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Incorporating the fact that the senses are embodied is necessary for an organism to interpret sensory information. Before a unified perception of the world can be formed, sensory signals must be processed with reference to body representation. The various attributes of the body such as shape, proportion, posture, and movement can be both derived from the various sensory systems and can affect perception of the world (including the body itself). In this review we examine the relationships between sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions of the world and the body. We provide several examples of how the body affects perception (including but not limited to body perception). First we show that body orientation effects visual distance perception and object orientation. Also, visual-auditory crossmodal-correspondences depend on the orientation of the body: audio “high” frequencies correspond to a visual “up” defined by both gravity and body coordinates. Next, we show that perceived locations of touch is affected by the orientation of the head and eyes on the body, suggesting a visual component to coding body locations. Additionally, the reference-frame used for coding touch locations seems to depend on whether gaze is static or moved relative to the body during the tactile task. The perceived attributes of the body such as body size, affect tactile perception even at the level of detection thresholds and two-point discrimination. Next, long-range tactile masking provides clues to the posture of the body in a canonical body schema. Finally, ownership of seen body parts depends on the orientation and perspective of the body part in view. Together, all of these findings demonstrate how sensory and motor information, body representations, and perceptions (of the body and the world) are interdependent.

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“…Given that (a) disparity is encoded in the most relative fashion at the level of V4 and (b) V4 is known to be essential for the integration of context for other features such as color constancy (Wild, Butler, Carden, & Kulikowski, 1985), it is reasonable to assume that V4 neurons may also "contribute to size constancy by systematically changing their size tuning depending on the viewing distance from objects" (Roe et al, 2012, p. 18). Furthermore, functional data on the neural correlates of the moon illusion suggest that V3v integrates retinal size and context information (Weidner et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rescaling Retinal Size into Perceived Size: Evidence for an Occipital and Parietal Bottleneck

Kreutzer¹,

Weidner²,

Fink³

2015

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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The spatial and temporal context of an object influence its perceived size. Two visual illusions illustrate this nicely: the size adaptation effect and the Ebbinghaus illusion. Whereas size adaptation affects size rescaling of a target circle via a previously presented, differently sized adaptor circle, the Ebbinghaus illusion alters perceived size by virtue of surrounding circles. In the classical Ebbinghaus setting, the surrounding circles are shown simultaneously with the target. However, size underestimation persists when the surrounding circles precede the target. Such a temporal separation of inducer and target circles in both illusions permits the comparison of BOLD signals elicited by two displays that, although objectively identical, elicit different percepts. The current study combined both illusions in a factorial design to identify a presumed common central mechanism involved in rescaling retinal into perceived size. At the behavioral level, combining both illusions did not affect perceived size further. At the neural level, however, this combination induced functional activation beyond that induced by either illusion separately: An underadditive activation pattern was found within left lingual gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus, and right superior parietal cortex. These findings provide direct behavioral and functional evidence for the presence of a neural bottleneck in rescaling retinal into perceived size, a process vital for visual perception.

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The Moon Illusion and Size–Distance Scaling—Evidence for Shared Neural Patterns

Cited by 22 publications

References 40 publications

Fast and Forceful: Modulation of Response Activation Induced by Shifts of Perceived Depth in Virtual 3D Space

Fast and Forceful: Modulation of Response Activation Induced by Shifts of Perceived Depth in Virtual 3D Space

How our body influences our perception of the world

Rescaling Retinal Size into Perceived Size: Evidence for an Occipital and Parietal Bottleneck

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