Tracking the changing feature of a moving object

Thesis

The mind can track not only the changing locations of moving objects, but also changing features, which are often meaningful for guiding action. In the real dynamic world, features are often changing even as the objects they belong to move. How does the mind track such features? I found that this ability is enabled by a highly feature- specific process that continuously tracks the feature — even during occlusion, when the feature is completely invisible. This suggests that the mental representation of a changing feature and its moving object are continuously transformed. I also found a systematic error in performance, whereby the feature was reliably perceived to be further ahead than it truly was. This effect appears to occur because during occlusion the mental representation of the feature is transformed at a quicker rate than the veridical rate, perhaps in order to conservatively anticipate future feature states. Finally, I found an age-related decline in this feature tracking ability, and discuss ongoing work with lesion patients into the neural substrates of this process.

Authors: De Freitas, J

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-9end4r0yz
• Type of award: MSc by Research
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford