Postdictive processing in perception
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21283534 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter A White (0000-0002-9080-6678), P Lewis White (Cardiff University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 268 |
| Pages | 107263 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Acta Psychologica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0001-6918 • E-ISSN: 1873-6297 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.107263 |
| PMID | 42308907 |
| OpenAlex | W7165036441 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 167 |
In postdictive processing, how a stimulus is perceived is influenced by processing of later stimulus input. Postdictive processing can occur on short time scales, up to ∼150 ms, and on time scales longer than 150 ms. This paper is concerned with postdiction on longer time scales. Evidence is reviewed for postdictive processing in long-range apparent motion, illusory saltation, and perceptual impressions of causality. It is also shown that some findings that have been interpreted as involving postdictive processing can be explained without recourse to postdiction. These include low contrast orientation discrimination, supposedly postdictive effects of colour change on choice, and volitional influence on ambiguous stimulus perception. It is proposed that postdictive interpretation may result from re-entrant processing operating on information held in a perceptual storage buffer, triggered by uncertainty or ambiguity in the stimulus information. Construction of events that occurred more than 150 ms before current perception implies that information about those events is retained in a memory store in order to avoid evident asynchronies in perception. It is proposed that that involves what is usually called iconic memory
Ambiguity · Cognition · Information processing · Perception · Stimulus (psychology) · Time perception · Multisensory perception and integration · Tactile and Sensory Interactions · Visual perception and processing mechanisms
Human Memory
On the speed of mental processes
The distinct modes of vision offered by feedforward and recurrent processing
Abnormalities in the awareness of action
Conscious Processing and the Global Neuronal Workspace Hypothesis
Subjective Referral of the Timing for a Conscious Sensory Experience
Different time courses for visual perception and action priming
Towards a true neural stance on consciousness
Timing of the brain events underlying access to consciousness during the attentional blink
Reconstruction of automobile destruction
Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Conscious Processing
Top-down facilitation of visual recognition
Time and the observer
Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science
Semantic memory
Need for cross-level iterative re-entry in models of visual processing
Keeping postdiction simple
Using Illusory Line Motion to Differentiate Misrepresentation (Stalinesque) and Misremembering (Orwellian) Accounts of Consciousness
Prior-entry
The flash-lag effect and related mislocalizations
The two-process distinction in apparent motion
The varieties of momentum-like experience
Saltation in somesthesis
Phenomenal Simultaneity and the Perceptual Moment Hypothesis
Recent studies of simple reaction time
Inverse-intensity effect in duration of visible persistence
| Highly cited | No |
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