The Typical-motion Effect On Representational Momentum And Its Resources

Representational momentum （RM） referred to the tendency of observers to“remember” the stopping point of an event as being farther along in the direction ofmotion than it was in reality. Previous studies had found that the natural objects’displacement in moving forward condition was larger than moving backward condition,which was named as the typical-motion effect. However, the causes of thetypical-motion effect are subjects for debates.The purpose of the current study is to explore the possible causes of thetypical-motion effect in representational momentum by using familiar natural objects asresearch materials. The study1(experiment1-3) investigated whether familiar objectscould produce the representational momentum and typical-motion effect. Experiment1found that the familiar objects in forward moving codnition can produce therepresentational momentum effect. Experiment2found that the familiar objects inbackward moving condition can also produce the representational momentum. However,the displacement of animal movements was significantly smaller than that of geometricfigure. Experiment3replicated the typical-motion effect by using different stimuli.Study2,3and4were parallel studies and explored the possible causes of thetypical-motion effect-velocity, facing and pointedness-respectively. The study2(experiment4-8) focused on the effects of velocity on the typical montion effect.Experiment4found that the speed of object influenced the displacement. Experiment5found that there was no difference between the weighted mean for car and bike.Experiment6used the picture of body’s gestures of running and standing as materialsand found that weighted mean for running was significantly larger than standing. Theresults of experiment7suggested that there was no difference between the weightedmean for horizontal viewing angle and excluded the possible horizontal viewing angleexplanation of experiment6. The aim of experiment8was to explore the relationshipbetween semantic priming of velocity and representational moment. The results ofexperiment8suggested that there was no difference between the weighted mean forquickly and slowly by semantic priming. The main conclusion of study2was that underthe condition of effect of velocity priming, the knowledge of velocity about familiarobjects influenced the size of representational momentum. However, the influence of the knowledge of velocity needed to be used as the visual features of the objects. Study3(experiment9-12) used symmetric figure as materials and focused on facing reason.Experiment9and10demonstrated that facing effect was the most likely causes oftypical-motion effects. Experiment11found that facing effect was stronger thanpointedness effect when both effects occurred simultaneously, and had opposing effects.Experiment12found that facing effect also occurred when stimuli moved vertically.The main conclusion of study3was that facing influence representational momentu.Because facing effect only occurred when the stimulus was moving right and movingdown, lateral reading habits and gravity influenced facing effect. Study4(experiment13-14) focused on pointedness reason. Experiment13used triangle as materials andfound that the displacement of moving forward was larger than moving backward.Experiment14was a control experiment, and found that the contradictory (being upsidedown) of the state of familiar and everyday experience did not affect the displacementwhen controlling the facing and pointedness variables. The main conclusion of study3was that pointedness effect was a possible cause of typical-motion effects.In conclusion, there is typical-motion effect on familiar objects movements. Thedisplacement of moving forward condition is larger than moving backward condition.Compared to the pointedness effect, the facing effect is a more general and importantcause of typical-motion effect, hence, the representational momentum is cognitivelypenetrable.