Visual and Auditory Autokinesis

Abstract

Two experiments demonstrate continuity in autokinetic movement of visual and auditory stimuli. In one experiment, the trial-to-trial correlations of duration of autokinetic movement were almost as large between modalities (correlating responses to the auditory stimulus with those to the visual) as they were within a given modality. In the second experiment, manipulation of instructions produced equivalent effects upon autokinesis in the two modalities. Introducing extraneous asymmetric stimulation had no effect in either modality. Current theories about autokinesis are largely mode specific; the results of these experiments suggest that central determinants also contribute strongly to the effect.