Explorations of representational momentum

Abstract Figures that have undergone a rotation or translation are remembered as being slightly beyond their final position. This phenomenon has been termed “representational momentum” because of the possibility that it reflects the internalization in the visual system of the principles of physical momentum. This paper explored the questions of what gets transformed in representational momentum, and what types of transformations induce such representational distortions. The experiments in Part 1 indicated that representational momentum is associated with the representation of a particular object rather than an abstract spatial position. Figures of radically different shapes shown in spatial positions that implied a rotation did not produce momentum effects. On the other hand, figures that could be construed as identical objects moving to different locations led to momentum effects. The experiments in Part 2 revealed that transformations not related to actual physical momentum, such as changes in the pitches of tones, can produce representational momentum. These findings suggest that representational momentum is abstractly related to physical momentum. The final discussion explores the implications of representational momentum for the analog/propositional debate.