London, Aug 26 (Inditop.com) The human brain can perceive the outcome of eye movement split seconds before they take in a new scene, says a new study.
Researchers asked participants in the study to shift their eyes to a clock with a fast-moving hand and report the time when their eyes landed on the clock. The average reported time was 39 milliseconds before the actual time.
As a control task, the clock moved instead of the eyes, and the reported arrival time averaged 27 milliseconds after the actual time.
“We’ve revealed a moment in time when things are not perceived as they actually are,” said lead researcher Amelia Hunt from the University of Aberdeen’s School of Psychology.
“These findings serve as a reminder that every aspect of our experience is constructed by our brains.”
The report suggests that the prediction is a result of remapping, where neurons involved in visual perception become active or dormant to help the brain maintain a stable visual environment despite the constant shift of images on the retina.
“Remapping allows locations to be continuously represented across the eye movement by maintaining both current and expected locations simultaneously, facilitating the transition between the two,” Hunt added.
“The finding implies that we experience the predicted consequence of an eye movement as though it is actually occurring, albeit just for a moment.”
Hunt said the research might lead to more investigation of the brain’s ability to predict and its role in perception, as well as the link between brain activity and actual experience, said an Aberdeen release.
The next step may be to examine under what circumstances predictive processes occur, what function they serve and to what degree they influence our perception of events, she said.
These findings were published in the Journal of Vision.
