The biases affecting people’s perception of dynamic stimuli are typically robust and strong for specific stimulus configurations. For example, representational momentum describes a systematic perceptual bias in the direction of motion for the final location of a moving stimulus. Under clearly defined stimulus configurations (e.g., specific stimulus identity, size, speed), for example, the frequently used “implied motion” trial sequence, for which a target is subsequently presented in a consistent direction and with a consistent speed, a displacement in motion direction is evidenced. The present study explores the potential influence of expectations regarding directional as well as speed consistencies on representational momentum, elicited by including other, inconsistently moving trial types within the same experimental block. A systematic representational momentum effect was observed when only consistent motion trials were presented. In contrast, when inconsistent target motion trials were mixed within the same block of experimental trials, the representational momentum effect decreased, or was even eliminated (Experiments 1 & 2). Detailed analysis indicated that this reflects a global (proportion of consistent and inconsistent motion trials within a particular experimental block), not local (preceding trial influencing actual trial) effect. Yet, additional follow-up studies (Experiments 3 & 4) support the idea that these changes in perceived location are strongly influenced by the overall stimulus speed statistics in the different experimental blocks. These results are discussed and interpreted in light of recent theoretical developments in the literature on motion perception that highlight the importance of expectations about stimulus speed for motion perception.

对于特定的刺激配置，影响人们对动态刺激感知的偏差通常是稳健且强烈的。例如，表征动量描述了运动刺激最终位置的运动方向的系统感知偏差。例如，在明确定义的刺激配置（例如，特定刺激身份、大小、速度）下，经常使用的“隐含运动”试验序列，随后以一致的方向和一致的速度呈现目标，位移运动方向得到证实。本研究探讨了关于方向和速度一致性的期望对代表性动量的潜在影响，这是通过在同一实验块中包含其他不一致移动的试验类型而引起的。当仅呈现一致的运动试验时，观察到系统的代表性动量效应。相反，当不一致的目标运动试验混合在同一实验试验块中时，代表性动量效应会降低，甚至被消除（实验 1 和 2）。详细分析表明，这反映了全局（特定实验块内一致和不一致运动试验的比例），而不是局部（影响实际试验的先前试验）效果。然而，其他后续研究（实验 3 和 4）支持这样的观点：感知位置的这些变化受到不同实验块中整体刺激速度统计的强烈影响。这些结果根据运动感知文献中的最新理论发展进行了讨论和解释，这些理论发展强调了运动感知刺激速度的期望的重要性。