The Fröhlich effect: a consequence of the interaction of visual focal attention and metacontrast

Usually we assume that the central nervous system preserves temporal sequences. Here we show that moving objects—in the context of behaviour often dangerous ones—are seen with a shorter latency than stationary (flashed) objects. In addition moving objects are deblurred. Two mechanisms contribute to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vision research (Oxford) 1999-11, Vol.39 (22), p.3702-3709
Main Authors: Kirschfeld, Kuno, Kammer, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Attention
Biological and medical sciences
Contrast Sensitivity - physiology
Cues
Fröhlich effect
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Metacontrast
Motion perception
Motion Perception - physiology
Perception
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Space life sciences
Vision
Visual attention
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Summary:Usually we assume that the central nervous system preserves temporal sequences. Here we show that moving objects—in the context of behaviour often dangerous ones—are seen with a shorter latency than stationary (flashed) objects. In addition moving objects are deblurred. Two mechanisms contribute to this functional specialisation: cue-induced visual focal attention and metacontrast. Under unnatural conditions these mechanisms lead to an optical illusion first described by Fröhlich [Fröhlich, F. W. (1923). Über die Messung der Empfindungszeit. Zeitschrift für Sinnesphysiologie, 54, 58–78].
ISSN:0042-6989
1878-5646
DOI:10.1016/S0042-6989(99)00089-9