Change-Related Persistence

These demonstrations are of the change-related persistence effect that was first reported in Moore & Enns (2004) and considered further in Moore, Mordkoff, & Enns (2007). The phenomenon is that introducing an abrupt and transient change to an object that is in apparent motion causes the appearance of two objects, where only one is perceived when no change occurs.


change-related persistence - size change


Here it is with circular motion around fixation as in Moore and Enns (2004). The left movie shows regular apparent motion where the disc is identical in all frames. The right is different from the left only in the second to last frame of motion where the disc becomes small for a single frame.


change-related persistence - size change



Here it is with linear motion. The top stream differs from the bottom stream only in the second to last frame of motion, where the disc becomes small.



change-related persistence - luminance change


It seems to be a fairly general effect. It works for changes in luminance...



change-related persistence - color change


...changes in color...



change-related persistence - shape change


...changes in shape, and a variety of other changes.