Bridging the Gap: Possible Roles and Contributions of Representational Momentum

Abstract

Memory for the position of a moving target is often displaced in the
 direction of anticipated motion, and this has been referred to as
 representational momentum. Such displacement might aid spatial
 localization by bridging the gap between perception and action, and might
 reflect a second-order isomorphism between subjective consequences of
 environmentally invariant physical principles and the functional architecture
 of mental representation that can be modulated by an observers
 expectations (e.g., that a moving target will change its heading) or by the
 presence of nontarget stimuli (e.g., landmarks). Representational
 momentum and related types of displacement reflect properties of the world
 and properties of mental representation, and so a consideration of
 representational momentum and related types of displacement contribute an
 important component of contemporary psychophysics, and also broaden the
 reach of psychophysics to include numerous topics not usually considered
 within psychophysics (e.g., naive physics, boundary extension, flash-lag
 effect, aesthetics, mental imagery).