Autokinetic effect

Of the autokinetic effect corresponds to an optical illusion. If a static light stimulus is emitted in an otherwise monochrome dark environment, people lack reference points for assessing the localization and the movement of the light point. This creates the impression that the static stimulus is moving in the area.

What is the autokinetic effect?

Human visual perception is not free from errors. Optical illusions, for example, illustrate how flawed perception is. One of these is known as the autokinetic effect. Because of this effect, people perceive a fixed light source or briefly presented light points in a stationary position in an otherwise completely dark environment as moving points. Both the direction and the range of the perceived movement can vary greatly.

The autokinetic effect is difficult to understand from an objective point of view. When it occurs, it is at that moment a purely subjective phenomenon of delusion. You can experience it, for example, if you look into the starry sky and fixate on one of the stars. It seems like it moves slightly. The autokinetic effect is based on the fact that the visual perception of movements always takes place in relation to a certain reference point and this reference point is ultimately lost in a dark environment.

Function & task

Humans are able to perceive movements. He is one of the eye-controlled living beings. From an evolutionary point of view, the visual perception of movements was essential for him in order to survive in his environment. Moving stimuli were judged to be dangerous and therefore more likely to attract attention.

In the case of the autokinetic effect, the distinction between moving and stationary stimulus sources fails. Humans always perceive moving and stationary stimuli with reference to a reference point in the field of vision. This reference point can be a definitely static building, for example. If, however, the background turns out to be uniformly low-stimulus, there are no suitable reference points for differentiating between moving and still. If a light stimulus is emitted in such an environment, its mobility can hardly be assessed. The position of the light point itself is only definitely anchored in an environment with reference points. In front of a low-stimulus and uniformly dark background, a stationary light stimulus therefore looks as if it is moving, because its position cannot be perceived as definitely fixed without a reference point. This phenomenon corresponds to the autokinetic effect.

In addition, according to speculation, the involuntary eye movements in the sense of microsaccades also contribute to the phenomenon. These microsaccades permanently shift the light to new receptors in the retina, since completely static light stimuli elude visual perception. Strong micro-movements of the eyes occur especially when tired, which sometimes play a role in the autokinetic effect.However, the micro-movements of the eyes are not to be equated one to one with the movements of the light stimuli experienced.

The autokinetic effect plays a special role for pilots on night flights. During night flights, you may need to correctly classify and localize individual points of light in a monochrome black environment, for example static lights on the ground or those of stars. Because of the autokinetic effect, they may mistake the static lights around them to be the lights of another aircraft. This threatens security insofar as you may want to correct the apparent collision course with the point of light.

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Illnesses & ailments

The autokinetic effect has no disease value. It is an optical illusion that comes about on the basis of a natural perception process. Whether the autokinetic effect occurs in people with paralysis of the eye muscles with the same intensity as in healthy people remains an unanswered question. Since the micro-movements of the eyes seem to contribute to the effect, people with a failure of these micro-movements would be largely immune to this hallucination.

Because the perceived movement of the points of light has no objective basis, the autokinetic effect is suitable for examining the formation of psychological opinions. Muzafer Sherif carried out such investigations in group experiments in 1935. In his study, the study participants had to subjectively assess the movement of the lights and communicate their judgment in a group context. From a certain point in time, the perceptions of the study participants agreed. This seems to confirm an opinion-forming influence of group constellations. The study is often mentioned in connection with peer pressure in opinion-forming processes.