BAPS 2021 - Individual differences in the use of perceptual history in the visual categorization of abstract shapes

Abstract

How we perceive a visual form is not only dependent on aspects of the shape that is currently presented, but also on the temporal context in which it is shown. The extent to which these history effects play a role in our perception, however, may differ between individuals. Whereas previous research focused on group-level effects of temporal context, this research investigates whether consistent individual differences exist in the strength of these history effects, and if so, whether these relate to other individual difference characteristics (i.e., scores on personality questionnaires). Stimuli are morph series between abstract shapes, varying over a perceptually non-obvious dimension, for which we have identified temporal context effects before. The study can provide evidence for different percepts in different individuals despite them being presented with the same stimulus in the same context and can thereby increase insight in how individuals combine previous and current input in their perception.

Date
May 28, 2021
Location
online