The tau and anti-tau effects in successively presented stimuli

Percept Mot Skills. 2000 Dec;91(3 Pt 2):1202-8. doi: 10.2466/pms.2000.91.3f.1202.

Abstract

It was confirmed by the reproduction method with 20 adults that (a) the tau effect, i.e., the greater the temporal separation between successively presented stimuli with a constant spatial interval, the greater the apparent spatial interval, occurred, especially in the situation in which the participants were assumed to form a set easily using temporal interval as the cue for spatial interval estimation, and (b) the anti-tau effect occurred in the special situation in which the participants were assumed to form a set using speed of an imaginary movement as the cue for it. These findings supported the hypothesis of "cue-selection sets."

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Distance Perception
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Motion Perception
  • Orientation
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual*
  • Problem Solving
  • Psychophysics
  • Set, Psychology*
  • Space Perception*
  • Time Perception*