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Villavicencio P, de la Malla C, López-Moliner J. Prediction of time to contact under perceptual and contextual uncertainties. J Vis 2024; 24:14. [PMID: 38904641 PMCID: PMC11204063 DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.6.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 05/17/2024] [Indexed: 06/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Accurately estimating time to contact (TTC) is crucial for successful interactions with moving objects, yet it is challenging under conditions of sensory and contextual uncertainty, such as occlusion. In this study, participants engaged in a prediction motion task, monitoring a target that moved rightward and an occluder. The participants' task was to press a key when they predicted the target would be aligned with the occluder's right edge. We manipulated sensory uncertainty by varying the visible and occluded periods of the target, thereby modulating the time available to integrate sensory information and the duration over which motion must be extrapolated. Additionally, contextual uncertainty was manipulated by having a predictable and unpredictable condition, meaning the occluder either reliably indicated where the moving target would disappear or provided no such indication. Results showed differences in accuracy between the predictable and unpredictable occluder conditions, with different eye movement patterns in each case. Importantly, the ratio of the time the target was visible, which allows for the integration of sensory information, to the occlusion time, which determines perceptual uncertainty, was a key factor in determining performance. This ratio is central to our proposed model, which provides a robust framework for understanding and predicting human performance in dynamic environments with varying degrees of uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela Villavicencio
- Vision and Control of Action Group, Department of Cognition, Development, and Psychology of Education, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Cristina de la Malla
- Vision and Control of Action Group, Department of Cognition, Development, and Psychology of Education, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Joan López-Moliner
- Vision and Control of Action Group, Department of Cognition, Development, and Psychology of Education, Institute of Neurosciences, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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Vagnetti R, Vicovaro M, Spoto A, Battaglini L, Attanasio M, Valenti M, Mazza M. Atypical Time to Contact Estimation in Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-024-06352-z. [PMID: 38635130 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06352-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) present atypical sensory processing in the perception of moving stimuli and biological motion. The present study aims to explore the performance of young adults with ASD in a time to contact (TTC) estimation task involving social and non-social stimuli. TTC estimation involves extrapolating the trajectory of a moving target concealed by an occluder, based on the visible portion of its path, to predict the target's arrival time at a specific position. Sixteen participants with a diagnosis of level-1 ASD (M = 19.2 years, SE = 0.54 years; 3 F, 13 M) and sixteen participants with TD (M = 22.3 years, SE = 0.44 years; 3 F, 13 M) took part in the study and underwent a TTC estimation task. The task presented two object types (a car and a point-light walker), different object speeds, occluder lengths, motion directions and motion congruency. For the car object, a larger overestimation of TTC emerged for ASDs than for TDs, whereas no difference between ASDs and TDs emerged for the point-light walker. ASDs exhibited a larger TTC overestimation for the car object than for the point-light walker, whereas no difference between object types emerged for TDs. Our results indicated an atypical TTC estimation process in young adults with ASD. Given its importance in daily life, future studies should further explore this skill. Significant effects that emerged from the analysis are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Vagnetti
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Michele Vicovaro
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
| | - Andrea Spoto
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Luca Battaglini
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Margherita Attanasio
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Marco Valenti
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
- Regional Reference Centre for Autism (Centro di Riferimento Regionale per l'Autismo), Abruzzo Region Local Health Agency 1 (ASL 1), L'Aquila, Italy
| | - Monica Mazza
- Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy
- Regional Reference Centre for Autism (Centro di Riferimento Regionale per l'Autismo), Abruzzo Region Local Health Agency 1 (ASL 1), L'Aquila, Italy
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Tong Y, Zhou TM. The effect of background information and motion speed on the performance of TTC estimation. BMC Psychol 2024; 12:17. [PMID: 38183125 PMCID: PMC10770939 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-023-01502-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In previous studies, most research on motion perception have been conducted under background-free condition when the stimulus moved in a plane parallel to the observer. In real-life situations, people's perception of the motion state of objects is usually done under different visual noise. Based on the occlusion paradigm, this study aimed to investigate whether different background information and motion speed affect the trend and accuracy of time-to-collision (TTC) estimation when stimuli move in a plane parallel to the observer. METHODS Thirty five college students (mean age = 20.94, SD = 2.95, range = 18-28 years) participated in experiment 1, and used a 2 (background orientation: horizontal, vertical) × 3 (motion speed: slow, medium, fast) design to explore the effect of different line segment orientations and motion speed on TTC estimation performance; 36 college students (mean age = 20.81, SD = 2.82, range = 18-28 years) participated in experiment 2, and used a 2 (background dimension: two-dimensional background, three-dimensional background) × 3 (motion speed: slow, medium, fast) design to explore the effect of different background dimensions and motion speed on the performance of TTC estimation. The data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0. RESULTS The results revealed that: (1) The TTC was underestimated for the slow speed condition and overestimated for the medium and fast speed conditions. (2) The highest accuracy of TTC estimation was obtained for the fast condition. (3) The TTC were overestimated for the vertical background condition and underestimated for the horizontal background condition. (4) Compared to the two-dimensional background, the TTC was overestimated in the three-dimensional background. CONCLUSIONS Object motion speed affected the TTC estimation performance, and different background information affected the TTC estimation performance when the object moved in a plane parallel to the observer. Meanwhile, the impact of background orientation and motion speed showed significant interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Tong
- School of Educational Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, 110034, China
| | - Tie-Min Zhou
- School of Educational Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, 110034, China.
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Li X, Baurès R, Cremoux S. Hand movements influence the perception of time in a prediction motion task. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:1276-1286. [PMID: 36991288 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02690-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
Abstract
Human perception of time is far from accurate and is subject to distortions. Previous research has demonstrated that any manipulation that distorts the perceived velocity of visible moving objects may shift prediction motion (PM) performance during occlusion. However, it is not clear whether motor action has the same influence during occlusion in the PM task. This work evaluated the influence of action on PM performance in two experiments. In both cases, participants performed an interruption paradigm, evaluating if an occluded object had reappeared earlier or later than expected. This task was done simultaneously with a motor action. In Experiment 1, we compared the PM performance according to the timing of the action made while the object was still visible or occluded. In Experiment 2, participants had to perform (or not) a motor action if the target was green (or red). In both experiments, our results showed that the duration of the object's occlusion was underestimated in the specific case of acting during the occlusion period. These results suggest that action and temporal perception share similar neural bases. Future research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuening Li
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), UMR CNRS 5549, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse 3, Pavillon Baudot, 31059, Toulouse, France
| | - Robin Baurès
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), UMR CNRS 5549, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse 3, Pavillon Baudot, 31059, Toulouse, France
| | - Sylvain Cremoux
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), UMR CNRS 5549, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse 3, Pavillon Baudot, 31059, Toulouse, France.
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Scholcover F, Gillan DJ. Temporal Sensitivity and Latency During Teleoperation: Using Track Clearance to Understand Errors in Future Projection. HUMAN FACTORS 2023; 65:260-274. [PMID: 33887982 DOI: 10.1177/00187208211011842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study investigates the role of individual differences in time perception on task performance during teleoperation with latency. BACKGROUND Long distance teleoperation induces latency, causing performance issues for the operator. Previous research demonstrated that individual differences in time perception predicted performance on a similar task, having participants navigate a radio controlled (RC) car around a track. This work extends the relationship into routes of varying course width to test whether differences in time perception predict movement over-/underestimation. METHOD Participants completed a time estimation task and a route navigation task while experiencing latency. In the time estimation task, participants estimated the duration of multiple visual stimuli (2 s or less). In the route navigation task, participants moved a virtual cube across a route. Each trial varied in the amount of latency and the amount of horizontal clearance in the track (4-10 m for a 1.2-m-long/wide cube). RESULTS The results showed fairly consistent latency by time estimation and latency by clearance interaction effects on a wide set of trial-level variables, such as completion time, and action-level performance variables, such as time spent moving per move event. However, the results were not consistently in the predicted direction. CONCLUSION Results suggest that clearance and timing affect performance across latency, at both the overall level (i.e., trial completion time) and at the action level (time spent moving). An open question remains as to how these contextual factors affect movement strategy selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Scholcover
- 6798 North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA
- Arizona State University, Mesa, USA
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Vater C, Mann DL. Are predictive saccades linked to the processing of peripheral information? PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2022; 87:1501-1519. [PMID: 36167931 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01743-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
High-level athletes can predict the actions of an opposing player. Interestingly, such predictions are also reflected by the athlete's gaze behavior. In cricket, for example, players first pursue the ball with their eyes before they very often initiate two predictive saccades: one to the predicted ball-bounce point and a second to the predicted ball-bat-contact point. That means, they move their eyes ahead of the ball and "wait" for the ball at the new fixation location, potentially using their peripheral vision to update information about the ball's trajectory. In this study, we investigated whether predictive saccades are linked to the processing of information in peripheral vision and if predictive saccades are superior to continuously following the ball with foveal vision using smooth-pursuit eye-movements (SPEMs). In the first two experiments, we evoked the typical eye-movements observed in cricket and showed that the information gathered during SPEMs is sufficient to predict when the moving object will hit the target location and that (additional) peripheral monitoring of the object does not help to improve performance. In a third experiment, we show that it could actually be beneficial to use SPEMs rather than predictive saccades to improve performance. Thus, predictive saccades ahead of a target are unlikely to be performed to enhance the peripheral monitoring of target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Vater
- Institute of Sport Science, University of Bern, Bremgartenstrasse 145, 3012, Bern, Switzerland.
| | - David L Mann
- Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Motor Learning and Performance, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Horváth D, Négyesi J, Győri T, Szűcs B, Tóth PJ, Matics Z, Ökrös C, Sáfár S, Szabó N, Takács B, Kathy R, Tóth K, Ferguson DP, Nagatomi R, Rácz L. Application of a Reactive Agility Training Program Using Light-Based Stimuli to Enhance the Physical and Cognitive Performance of Car Racing Drivers: A Randomized Controlled Trial. SPORTS MEDICINE - OPEN 2022; 8:113. [PMID: 36065041 PMCID: PMC9445110 DOI: 10.1186/s40798-022-00509-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND There is a need to develop strategies that could contribute to the physical and mental preparation of motorsport athletes. A common method used by experienced motorsport athlete physical trainers is flashing light devices to train or assess reactive agility, despite limited evidence. Therefore, in the present study, we determined the effects of a 6-week reactive agility training program using light-based stimuli on the physiological and cognitive abilities of car racing drivers. MATERIALS AND METHODS The CONSORT guidelines for randomized controlled trial were used. In a single-blinded randomized controlled trial, 24 car racing drivers (EXP, n = 12; CON, n = 12) performed a comprehensive battery of cognitive tests marketed specifically at motorsport athletes from Vienna test system (VTS) at rest or during moderate intensity exercise on a bicycle. Physiological abilities were determined via a maximal incremental cardio-respiratory treadmill test. Baseline and post-intervention tests were performed on three consecutive days. Participants in EXP underwent a 6-week intervention consisting of 60-min training sessions twice a week using the Witty SEM light stimulus. RESULTS Participants in EXP but not in CON performed some of the VTS cognitive tasks with higher accuracy and/or shorter reaction time after the intervention at rest and during exercise. Car racing drivers performed the STROOP word-reading condition more accurately when the task was performed during the exercise vs. rest, regardless of group. In addition, the intervention induced beneficial changes in peak heart rate (HR), HR at gas exchange threshold, ventilation, and relative maximal oxygen consumption (rVO2 max). In contrast, body mass and fat mass increased, while peak HR and rVO2 max decreased in CON. Finally, participants in EXP improved their reactive agility performance and reaction time throughout the training program. CONCLUSION Overall, the reactive agility training program using light-based stimuli appeared to be efficient to induce beneficial effects on some physiological and cognitive performance measures; therefore, it may have the potential to contribute to car racing drivers' physical and mental performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dávid Horváth
- Department of Kinesiology, University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary.
- Fit4Race Kft., Budapest, Hungary.
| | - János Négyesi
- Division of Biomedical Engineering for Health and Welfare, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Tamás Győri
- Fit4Race Kft., Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Psychology and Sport Psychology, University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Botond Szűcs
- Fit4Race Kft., Budapest, Hungary
- PharmaFlight Research and Training Center, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Péter János Tóth
- Fit4Race Kft., Budapest, Hungary
- Deparment of Sport Games, University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary
| | | | - Csaba Ökrös
- Deparment of Sport Games, University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Sándor Sáfár
- Training Theory and Methodology Research Center, University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary
| | | | | | | | | | - David P Ferguson
- Department of Kinesiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Ryoichi Nagatomi
- Division of Biomedical Engineering for Health and Welfare, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- Department of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
| | - Levente Rácz
- Department of Kinesiology, University of Physical Education, Budapest, Hungary
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Koshizawa R, Oki K, Takayose M. The presence of occlusion affects electroencephalogram activity patterns when the target is occluded and immediately before occlusion. Neuroreport 2022; 33:345-353. [DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000000000001792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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The influence of time structure on prediction motion in visual and auditory modalities. Atten Percept Psychophys 2021; 84:1994-2001. [PMID: 34725775 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02369-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Usually people can estimate the correct position of a moving object even when it temporarily moves behind an occlusion. Studies have been performed on this type of occluded motion with prediction motion (PM) tasks in the laboratory. Previous publications have emphasized that people could use mental imagery or apply an oculomotor system to estimate the arrival of a moving stimulus at the target place. Nevertheless, these two ways cannot account for the performance difference under a different set of conditions. Our study tested the role of time structure in a time-to-collision (TTC) task using visual and auditory modalities. In the visual condition, the moving red bar travelled from left to right and was invisible during the entire course but flashed at the initial and the occluded points. The auditory condition and visual condition were alike, except that the flashes in the visual condition were changed to clicks at the initial and the occluded points. The results illustrated that participants' performance was better in the equal time structure condition. The comparison between the two sense modalities demonstrated a similar tendency, which suggested there could be common cognitive processes between visual and auditory modalities when participants took advantage of temporal cues to judge TTC.
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The influence of auditory rhythms on the speed of inferred motion. Atten Percept Psychophys 2021; 84:2360-2383. [PMID: 34435321 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02364-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The present research explored the influence of isochronous auditory rhythms on the timing of movement-related prediction in two experiments. In both experiments, participants observed a moving disc that was visible for a predetermined period before disappearing behind a small, medium, or large occluded area for the remainder of its movement. In Experiment 1, the disc was visible for 1 s. During this period, participants were exposed to either a fast or slow auditory rhythm, or they heard nothing. They were instructed to press a key to indicate when they believed the moving disc had reached a specified location on the other side of the occluded area. The procedure measured the (signed) error in participants' estimate of the time it would take for a moving object to contact a stationary one. The principal results of Experiment 1 were main effects of the rate of the auditory rhythm and of the size of the occlusion on participants' judgments. In Experiment 2, the period of visibility was varied with size of the occlusion area to keep the total movement time constant for all three levels of occlusion. The results replicated the main effect of rhythm found in Experiment 1 and showed a small, significant interaction, but indicated no main effect of occlusion size. Overall, the results indicate that exposure to fast isochronous auditory rhythms during an interval of inferred motion can influence the imagined rate of such motion and suggest a possible role of an internal rhythmicity in the maintenance of temporally accurate dynamic mental representations.
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Battaglini L, Ghiani A. Motion behind occluder: Amodal perception and visual motion extrapolation. VISUAL COGNITION 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2021.1943094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Luca Battaglini
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Department of Physics and Astronomy “Galileo Galilei”, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Andrea Ghiani
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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Baurès R, Fourteau M, Thébault S, Gazard C, Pasquio L, Meneghini G, Perrin J, Rosito M, Durand JB, Roux FE. Time-to-contact perception in the brain. J Neurosci Res 2020; 99:455-466. [PMID: 33070400 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Time-to-contact (TTC) perception refers to the ability of an observer to estimate the remaining time before an object reaches a point in the environment, and is of crucial importance in daily life. Noninvasive correlational approaches have identified several brain areas sensitive to TTC information. Here we report the results of two studies, including one during an awake brain surgery, that aimed to identify the specific areas causally engaged in the TTC estimation process. In Study 1, we tested 40 patients with brain tumor in a TTC estimation task. The results showed that four of the six patients with impaired performance had tumors in right upper parietal cortex, although this tumoral location represented only six over 40 patients. In Study 2, 15 patients underwent awake brain surgery electrostimulation mapping to examine the implication of various brain areas in the TTC estimation process. We acquired and normalized to MNI space the coordinates of the functional areas that influenced task performance. Our results seem to demonstrate that the early stage of the TTC estimation process involved specific cortical territories in the ventral region of the right intraparietal sulcus. Downstream processing of TTC could also involve the frontal eye field (middle frontal gyrus) related to ocular search. We also found that deactivating language areas in the left hemisphere interfered with the TTC estimation process. These findings demonstrate a fine grained, cortical representation of TTC processing close to the ventral right intraparietal sulcus and complement those described in other human studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin Baurès
- CerCo, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CHU Purpan, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | - Marie Fourteau
- CerCo, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CHU Purpan, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | - Salomé Thébault
- CerCo, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CHU Purpan, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | - Chloé Gazard
- CerCo, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CHU Purpan, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | - Léa Pasquio
- CerCo, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CHU Purpan, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | - Giulia Meneghini
- CerCo, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CHU Purpan, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | - Juliette Perrin
- CerCo, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CHU Purpan, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | - Maxime Rosito
- CerCo, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CHU Purpan, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | | | - Franck-Emmanuel Roux
- CerCo, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CHU Purpan, Toulouse Cedex 9, France.,Pôle Neurosciences (Neurochirurgie), Centres Hospitalo-Universitaires, Toulouse, France
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Abstract
We investigated artificial scotomas created when a moving object instantaneously crossed a gap, jumping ahead and continuing its otherwise smooth motion. Gaps of up to 5.1 degrees of visual angle, presented at 18° eccentricity, either closed completely or appeared much shorter than when the same gap was crossed by two-point apparent motion, or crossed more slowly, mimicking occlusion. Prolonged exposure to motion trajectories with a gap in most cases led to further shrinking of the gap. The same gap-shrinking effect has previously been observed in touch. In both sensory modalities, it implicates facilitation among codirectional local motion detectors and motion neurons with receptive fields larger than the gap. Unlike stimuli that simply deprive a receptor surface of input, suggesting it is insentient, our motion pattern skips a section in a manner that suggests a portion of the receptor surface has been excised, and the remaining portions stitched back together. This makes it a potentially useful tool in the experimental study of plasticity in sensory maps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatjana Seizova-Cajic
- Touch, Proprioception and Vision Laboratory, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Nika Adamian
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, UK; Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS-Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
| | - Marianne Duyck
- Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS-Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France; Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute and National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Patrick Cavanagh
- Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, CNRS-Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NJ, USA; Department of Psychology, Glendon College, CVR York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Availability of attention affects time-to-contact estimation. Exp Brain Res 2018; 236:1971-1984. [PMID: 29713757 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-018-5273-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2017] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
To estimate the time-to-contact (TTC) of a moving object, numerous studies have focused on the type of information or gaze strategy used by the observer. However, it remains to be determined whether and how attention could affect TTC estimation. In particular, how does TTC estimation operate when less attention is available? To answer this question, we conducted two experiments in which the participants had to perform an absolute (Experiment 1) or relative (Experiment 2) prediction-motion task, either alone (i.e., in single-task condition) or along with a secondary, visual working-memory task (i.e., in dual-task condition). In both experiments, we found that TTC estimation was superior in dual-task condition relative to single-task condition. This finding suggests that the reduction of available attention actually improves TTC estimation. We discuss possible explanations as well as theoretical implications for this seemingly counter-intuitive finding. Further research is needed to investigate if (in)attention facilitates or only shifts TTC estimation.
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