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Causal chains as a distinct type of event in visual perception

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Emily Wedin¹ (emily.wedin@gmail.com), Joan Danielle K. Ongchoco¹; ¹University of British Columbia

The task of perception is to construct a description of experience. Accordingly, visual processing seems to traffic in properties beyond color or motion, such as *causality*. But what caused you to be here? Perhaps a flight to Vancouver, a September submission, or choices made along the way—but ultimately, any causal chain could, in theory, be traced back to the Big Bang. Do causal chains belong solely in the domain of reasoning, or might they also play a role in visual processing, stringing together events in time? Here, observers enumerated up to 30 discs in fast, irregular sequences. In the “causal chain” condition, each disc launched the next, while in the non-causal control, motions were identical, except for spatial gaps between discs. Observers estimated *more* discs in the causal chain, suggesting it may help retain motions in working memory. To further isolate the “causal chain” from mere causality and mere spatial continuity, we ran two additional experiments. In the “paired” condition, collisions occurred between alternating disc pairs, preserving causality without chain structure. Estimates fell between causal chain and non-causal estimates, suggesting that causality alone does not allow the same degree of retention. In the overlap condition, each disc took over the next disc’s position, providing continuity without causality. Estimates were reliably different from the causal chain—even higher—isolating an effect of spatial continuity independent of causality. Causal chains—as sequences of temporally-linked causal interactions—may be a distinct type of event in vision, allowing us to *hold on* to more of what we see.

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Vision