ISSN : 1226-9654
The accuracy of localization of a briefly presented visual target is compromised when external references are not available. It is thought that in such conditions, localization depends on egocentric cues, such as gaze direction. In the current study, we examined the pattern and magnitude of mislocalization and its underlying mechanism. Human subjects moved a visual probe to report the remembered location of a visual target in an otherwise dark condition. We found that spatial memory was influenced by the very act of localization if a visual probe was used for response. There was a robust bias in localization depending on the initial probe position. When the probe initially appeared on the same side as fixation with respect to the target, the remembered target location was systematically biased beyond the target eccentricity, whereas when the probe initially appeared on the side opposite to the fixation with respect to the target, localization was relatively accurate (Experiment 1). This asymmetric localization bias depending on the initial probe position was robustly found regardless of gaze direction during response period (Experiment 2) and response device (Experiment 3). The pattern of localization bias was consistent with the hypothesis that the perceived target location was repulsed from both the probe and fixation loci. Thus, depending on spatial arrangement, the repulsions from the fixation and probe accumulated to result in a larger localization error overestimating the target eccentricity, or the two repulsions annihilated each other to result in a relatively accurate localization.
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