Temporal and spatial contingencies in the perception of social events

Prepared 5 computer-generated films to investigate the effects of temporal contingency and spatial configuration on the perception of social events in an experiment with 40 undergraduates. The 1st film simulated a chase in which one figure converged on the path of the other, which then deviated from that path. In addition, there was a temporal contingency between changes in direction of the 2 figures. The 2nd film retained the same parameters of motion and temporal contingency, but the trailing circle paralleled rather than converged on the leading circle. In the 3rd film, the circles retained the temporal contingency, but the direction of the trailing circle was free to converge or diverge within limits from the path of the leading circle. In the 4th film, the paths of both circles were generated randomly but still displayed the same lag between changes in direction as the 1st 3 films. The 5th film displayed random paths, as in the previous case, but destroyed the temporal contingency shared by the other 4 films. The temporal contingency factor was crucial for the perception of an interaction between the figures, while the spatial configuration of motion tended to determine the nature of that interaction.