Serial Dependence in the Perception of Looming Stimuli

The perception of looming stimuli is crucial for detecting approaching objects and estimating time-to-collision across various scenarios. However, the human visual system is susceptible to biased representations influenced by recent experiences, a phenomenon known as serial dependence. This perceptual bias has been demonstrated at multiple stages of visual processing across various object types. In this study, we focus on looming and receding visual stimuli of high ecological relevance. We employed laboratory-based displays of looming disks within a rolling window framework in Experiment 1, utilizing a perceptual adjustment task, and a size discrimination task in Experiment 2 to investigate the serial dependence effect in motion-combined stimuli. Our findings indicate the presence of a perception-stabilizing continuity field, which operates prevalently even at the expense of sensitivity to dynamic stimuli.