Visual motion priming by invisible actions

Element shape biases the perceived direction in ambiguous apparent motion d isplays. Likewise, the direction of motion influences the perception of amb iguous elements' shapes. A recent framework that suggests common spatial re presentations for perception and action predicts that actions should also i nfluence the perceived direction of motion in ambiguous displays. In four e xperiments the perceived direction of an ambiguous display was shown to be primed by different types of invisible actions. An investigation of several aspects of action processing (like the type and direction of the hand move ment or direction of the cue for the hand movement) showed that priming onl y occurred if the goal of the action and the motion display shared a common cognitive dimension. When that common dimension is given, planing an actio n is sufficient for motion priming. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.