| Popis: |
A variety of phenomena related to the oblique regions of space have been observed across modality (e.g., in vision and in action) and across domain (e.g., for properties like orientation and location). For instance, the classic ‘oblique effect’ describes a deficit in visual acuity for oriented lines in the oblique regions of space, and classic ‘prototype effects’ describe a bias to mis-localize objects towards the oblique regions of space. While there has been speculation that some ‘oblique-related effects’ share a common mechanism, many of these effects are explained in very different terms. The oblique effect itself is often understood as arising from coding asymmetries in orientation-selective neurons in the brain, whereas prototype effects have been described as arising from categorical biases in higher-level cognition. But is it mere coincidence that there are so many distinct effects linked to the oblique regions of space? Here, we explore the possibility that most, if not all, known ‘oblique-related effects’ may stem from a single, underlying spatial representation. In two first experiments, we show that individuals show stable oblique biases across domain and across modality, and we explore how both biases may have a common cause. Then, in a final experiment, we show that this perspective correctly predicts behavior in a novel spatial judgment task. Thus, we argue that a single (distorted) spatial representation may be the root cause of dozens of known phenomena. |
