Even when visual information is chaotic and unpredictable, humans see objects and scenes consistently. Serial reliance is one of the processes behind this perceptual constancy. The perception of objects or characteristics is drawn toward what has previously been perceived at any given time. Despite recent findings from multiple research indicating considerable individual variations in serial dependency, it was unclear how durable serial dependence is within a person. For a study, researchers sought to determine the stability of serial reliance in direction perception across two days with the same observers.
Furthermore, they investigated the visual field location specificity of perceptual serial dependency. Observers observed a Gabor patch on each trial and then recorded its apparent orientation by shifting the orientation of a bar. The Gabor was either in the foveal or peripheral (10° right or left eccentricity) visual field for each observer on both days, or it changed placement from day today. The findings revealed a very high degree of test-retest repeatability in serial dependency evaluated across days among individual observers.
The great within-subject consistency was obtained only when serial reliance was examined at the same visual field region. Individual variations in serial dependency appeared to be robust across days. The spatiotemporal range in which the prior stimulus assimilates the perception of the present stimulus (the continuity field) might vary across distinct visual field locations in an observer-specific way.
Reference:jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2778674
