Talk:Looming

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A foundation of information regarding visual, auditory, and a combination of the two has been provided. There is an abundant amount of information on how looming is described in mental illness, and have provided sources for that, but do not focus on it.

Looming

A definition of looming has already been provided by another user that I believe to be clear and concise, especially pertaining to the following information. A.McAuliffe (talk) 15:13, 7 May 2017 (UTC)A.McAuliffe[reply]

Visual

In the visual field, "looming" refers to the rapid expansion of an object, or the occurrence of an object coming closer to a subject, while "receding" refers to an object increasing in distance from the subject.

When people are presented with two forms of motion, looming and receding, people were quicker at locating a target in a looming visual field opposed to a receding visual field.^[1] Although there is discourse on whether motion onset is responsible opposed to motion flow, or "Optical flow" there may be evidence that looming has an advantage in visual search tasks and attention capture.

Attention capture is when a stimuli is presented that is irrelevant to a task, and the subject focuses on the stimuli.^[2] This shows that motion alone doesn't capture attention, but needs to be salient to the subject. Previous research demonstrates that sudden appearance and a contrast change strongly capture attention. One study had participants view a screen of moving letters. During presentation, there was a mask, and then letters were presented with various types of motions. Looming target stimuli were located significantly faster and more accurate than receding letters.

Evidence is present that visual looming may have a certain capacity. Looming objects are often judged as closer than they actually are. ^[3] One study places participants under high and low cognitive load (described as low availability of low resources). These participants then undergo a visual looming task, one where they must judge the distance of a looming object at certain points. Results express that people under a higher load estimate objects are closer than they are, compared to a lower load. — Preceding unsigned comment added by A.McAuliffe (talk • contribs) 19:36, 5 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

To summarize, looming objects/motion are located faster than receding objects/motion. Looming motion often captures one's attention because approaching objects are salient to the subject and often perceived as dangerous. However, there may be an effect of cognitive load, showing that looming is more salient under a higher load. A.McAuliffe (talk) 15:03, 7 May 2017 (UTC)A.McAuliffe[reply]

Auditory

Sound acts similar to visual looming as sound often increases as it moves closer to a listener.^[4] Localizing sounds is biologically important to both humans and non humans because it can show where potential dangers may be approaching from. This also directs a subject's visual attention. One study looked at neural imaging and found that sound activation occurs in the right planum temporale for understanding distance, horizontal, and vertical motion. However, there is significantly more activation for horizontal motion than vertical.

Note: There needs to more research both reviewed and conducted on the differences in horizontal and vertical looming for both auditory and visual looming. Something to look into when further extending the looming wikipedia article.

One study investigated sound localization based on speed and accuracy, using varying acoustic intensity and pitch.^[5] Participants would listen to either looming, receding, or stationary auditory signals. Pitch was increased for looming sounds, and decreased for receding, to give the illusion of sounds either coming towards, or away from the listener. Participants sat in a room while one of the sounds played from one of nine speakers surrounding the room. People were faster and more accurate at localizing looming sounds, showing that people have a "looming bias" and sounds coming towards someone are perceived as more relevant.

One study examines potential gender differences with looming and receding auditory signals.^[6] Participants listened to stimuli of different sounds approaching the listener from varying distances and areas. Examples of this are 60 or 45 meters away at 15 m/s, or directly in front of them, slightly left, etc. Participants had to estimate where sounds stopped relative to them in multiple trials. Results showed that women have a significantly stronger looming sound bias, and estimate sounds are closer than they actually are compared to men. This difference may potentially be that women have to perceive danger approaching them than men do, but more research needs to be done. — Preceding unsigned comment added by A.McAuliffe (talk • contribs) 19:22, 5 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Application:

An example of biological salience for looming is when driving. One study had participants hear four different nonlooming auditory sounds (constant intensity, pulsed, ramped, and car horn), and three looming sounds (veridical, early, and late) while experiencing a driving simulator.^[7] In the driving simulator, participants had to follow sounds that would unpredictably change speeds and stop. Results showed that veridical looming sounds produced faster brake reaction times compared to other non looming sounds. This demonstrates that one may be more careful when they view something potentially harmful directed at them.

Looming sounds act similarly to visual looming stimuli as they are estimated as approaching faster than they are, and can be located more accurately than stationary, or receding sounds. Women tend to overestimate the proximity of looming sounds more than men do. These findings may attribute to one having to perceive danger approaching from a distance, which is demonstrating in people reacting quicker to looming, motorized, sounds.

Combined senses

One study examines how participants perceiving a stimulus when they are witnessing it through a suppressed visual and experiencing a noticeable auditory stimulus.^[8] Participants viewed either an object, a looming object, or a looming object with a looming auditory aid. Results showed that in the absence of a suppressed visual stimulus, a connection between auditory and visual looming can not be achieved.

Auditory looming stimuli may not influence visual looming stimuli, but there is evidence that visual systems could affect auditory systems. In another study, participants experienced intense auditory looming stimuli and were told to report what direction the auditory signals were going.^[9] There was a visual stimulus present, but participants were told to ignore visual cues. The experiment had trials in which visual cues were moving congruently and incongruently with auditory signals. Results showed that accuracy of auditory looming stimuli was negatively influenced by the presence of an incongruent visual stimulus.

Two experiments were conducted to examine how auditory stimuli influence the details of a visual stimulus.^[10] Participants focused on a fixation point where two disks were presented that varied in luminance or size, presented one after the other, and participants had to say how the second disk differed. During this time sound type and intensity varied, but had no significance to the trial. In the second experiment, the shape of the disk was also varied. Results showed that when looming sounds were played, that objects were perceived as brighter and larger than what they actually were. This explains that in-depth sound motion is transferred to in-depth visual processing.

When auditory and visual stimuli are combined, the presence of an auditory looming signal does not aid in locating looming visual stimuli. However, when visual stimuli are present, people are more accurate at locating auditory looming signals. However, looming sounds may make someone perceive visual stimuli inaccurately as it often appears larger and brighter than the visual stimuli actually is. A.McAuliffe (talk) 15:03, 7 May 2017 (UTC)A.McAuliffe[reply]

Note: May want to link to another article, or it can be included here on the phenomenon of looming in a clinical sense. Mental illness can show that there is a looming (something coming closer and closer) sense of dread, sorrow, etc. More background information can be found here..

[null Reflections on Strenger's 'Thoughts about the existential foundations of looming vulnerability'.]

Riskind, J. H., Williams, N. L., Gessner, T. L., Chrosniak, L. D., & Cortina, J. M. (2000). The looming maladaptive style: Anxiety, danger, and schematic processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 837.[9]

Riskind, J. H., Moore, R., & Bowley, L. (1995). The looming of spiders: The fearful perceptual distortion of movement and menace. Behaviour research and therapy, 33(2), 171-178.

A.McAuliffe (talk) 18:55, 4 May 2017 (UTC)A.McAuliffe[reply]

Andrew, this was a good draft of the looming article. I did not have any overarching edits, but I had a few specific suggestions. The looming definition at the top should be cited. The sentence about localizing sound: "Localizing sounds is biologically important to both humans and non humans because it can show where potential dangers may be approaching from, as well as where to avert one's visual attention." is a little long. You may want to split it into two sentences for clarity and conciseness. There was also a lack of obvious connection between localizing sound and the study you introduce immediately afterward about activation of motion. Adding the word 'sound' to make it obvious that you are talking about sound activating motion could help (if that is what you meant). In a few spots where you mention suggestions for future additions to the article, I was confused if they were going on the actual article or were notes to yourself. If they are part of the article, "There needs to be more research" should become "More research needs to be done" to avoid awkward passive voice. A few word choices could be changed to clarify: "Pitch was increased for looming sounds, and decreased for receding, to give the illusion on [of] sounds either coming towards, or away from the listener." and there was a spot where you say "looming, receding, or stationary " that would be improved if you added the word 'sound'. As I said at the beginning, it was a good draft overall. Hopefully these edits will help.Saholmes (talk) 19:59, 4 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): A.McAuliffe. Peer reviewers: Saholmes.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 11:59, 18 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]