The locus of "memory displacement" is at least partially perceptual: Effects of velocity, expectation, friction, memory averaging, and weight

When observers are asked to localize the final position of a moving target, the judged position is usually displaced from the actual position. It has been suggested that mental processes derived from a number of invariant and noninvariant principles produce the mislocalization in memory. In this study, the effects of velocity, expectation, friction, memory averaging, and weight were reconsidered, and evidence was accumulated that supports the alternative view that the distortions arise to a large degree at a perceptual level. Effects of velocity and expectation were present when observers still perceived a persisting image of the target. It is suggested that the active reorienting of the perceptual organs explains the distortions. Furthermoremore, distortions of the perceived center of a visible stimulus may explain effects that have previously been attributed to memory averaging and mental analogues of weight. Thus, the locus of memory displacement is at least partially perceptual.