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Core Cognition in Adult Vision: A Surprising DiscrepancyBetween the Principles of Object Continuity and Solidity

Falck, Andreas LU ; Labouret, Ghislaine ; Izard, Véronique ; Wertz, Annie E. ; Keil, Frank C. and Strickland, Brent (2020) In Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
Abstract
From an early age, humans intuitively expect physical objects to obey core principles, includingcontinuity (objects follow spatiotemporally continuous paths) and solidity (two solid objects cannotoccupy the same space at the same time). These 2 principles are sometimes viewed as deriving from asingle overarching “persistence” principle. Indeed, violations of solidity where one solid object seem-ingly passes through another could theoretically be interpreted as a violation of continuity, with an object“teleporting” to switch places rather than passing through a solid obstacle. However, it is an empiricalissue whether the two principles are processed distinctly or identically to one another. Here, adultparticipants tracked objects during... (More)
From an early age, humans intuitively expect physical objects to obey core principles, includingcontinuity (objects follow spatiotemporally continuous paths) and solidity (two solid objects cannotoccupy the same space at the same time). These 2 principles are sometimes viewed as deriving from asingle overarching “persistence” principle. Indeed, violations of solidity where one solid object seem-ingly passes through another could theoretically be interpreted as a violation of continuity, with an object“teleporting” to switch places rather than passing through a solid obstacle. However, it is an empiricalissue whether the two principles are processed distinctly or identically to one another. Here, adultparticipants tracked objects during dynamic events in a novel location detection task, which sometimesinvolved violations of the principles of continuity or solidity. Although participants explicitly noticedboth types of violations and reported being equally surprised at both, they made more errors andanswered more slowly after continuity violations than after solidity violations. Our results demonstratethat the two principles show different signature patterns and are thus represented distinctly in the mind. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
pages
14 pages
publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
external identifiers
  • pmid:32658529
  • scopus:85088472058
ISSN
0096-3445
DOI
10.1037/xge0000785
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3d3dba1c-8c72-490f-91cf-c59a95d14e32
alternative location
https://psyarxiv.com/jp52b
date added to LUP
2020-10-18 11:32:48
date last changed
2022-04-19 01:11:02
@article{3d3dba1c-8c72-490f-91cf-c59a95d14e32,
  abstract     = {{From an early age, humans intuitively expect physical objects to obey core principles, includingcontinuity (objects follow spatiotemporally continuous paths) and solidity (two solid objects cannotoccupy the same space at the same time). These 2 principles are sometimes viewed as deriving from asingle overarching “persistence” principle. Indeed, violations of solidity where one solid object seem-ingly passes through another could theoretically be interpreted as a violation of continuity, with an object“teleporting” to switch places rather than passing through a solid obstacle. However, it is an empiricalissue whether the two principles are processed distinctly or identically to one another. Here, adultparticipants tracked objects during dynamic events in a novel location detection task, which sometimesinvolved violations of the principles of continuity or solidity. Although participants explicitly noticedboth types of violations and reported being equally surprised at both, they made more errors andanswered more slowly after continuity violations than after solidity violations. Our results demonstratethat the two principles show different signature patterns and are thus represented distinctly in the mind.}},
  author       = {{Falck, Andreas and Labouret, Ghislaine and Izard, Véronique and Wertz, Annie E. and Keil, Frank C. and Strickland, Brent}},
  issn         = {{0096-3445}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{American Psychological Association (APA)}},
  series       = {{Journal of Experimental Psychology: General}},
  title        = {{Core Cognition in Adult Vision: A Surprising DiscrepancyBetween the Principles of Object Continuity and Solidity}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000785}},
  doi          = {{10.1037/xge0000785}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}