Motion Perception

Abstract

Motion perception is a key visual modality implicated in a wide range of critical functional roles. In addition to our ability to perceive moving objects, motion processing is involved in guiding locomotion, extracting object shape, figure‐ground segregation, capturing attention, and interpreting actions of our conspecifics. Here, we review advancements in our understanding of visual motion perception. We begin by describing the basic properties of motion, along with the computational challenges underlying detection and integration of motion signals. Next, we review more complex motion processes, discussing global motion perception, higher‐order motion, motion adaptation, motion in three dimensions, and biological motion. An important focus of this chapter is on interactions between motion perception and other sensory and cognitive modalities, including position, learning, attention, awareness, working memory, and multisensory processing. We also review notable examples of atypical motion processing in aging, cortical blindness, akinetopsia, amblyopia, schizophrenia, and autism spectrum disorder. For these topics, we cover key evidence from psychophysics, neurophysiology, neuroimaging, and computational modeling with an aim to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie our remarkable ability to take advantage of motion signals in the world. Finally, we highlight potentially interesting future directions in motion research.

Perceived speed at low luminance: Lights out for the Bayesian observer?

“…The fact that moving objects appear faster in the dark has been identified as a challenge to Bayesian explanations of perceptual biases in motion perception (Hammett et al, 2007;Hassan & Hammett, 2015;Park & Tadin, 2018). This is because many types of spatiotemporal sensitivity are worse at low luminance (Watson, 1986).…”

“…Importantly, this relationship between speed discrimination and perceived speed generalises to other senses, such as hearing (Senna et al, 2015), touch (Moscatelli et al, 2015), and extra-retinal information from the eye-movement system (Freeman et al, 2010;Powell et al, 2016). Yet despite its generality, the Bayesian framework struggles to explain some motion phenomena (for review, see Park & Tadin, 2018). The one we consider here is the increase in perceived speed at low luminance, which can occur for both object motion and self-movement (Hammett, Champion, Thompson & Morland, 2007;Hammett, Smith, Wall, & Larsson, 2013;Pritchard & Hammett, 2012;Vaziri-Pashkam & Cavanagh, 2008).…”

Do you hear what I see? How do early blind individuals experience object motion?

“…In sighted individuals, the hub of visual motion processing is hMT+ (human middle temporal cortex) [18]. hMT+ consists of regions analogous to macaque areas MT/MST/FST, along with some possible additional areas tuned for complex types of motion [19][20][21].…”

A key role of orientation in the coding of visual motion direction

“…Visual motion processing is a crucial brain function, supporting not only our ability to quickly perceive moving objects, but also a wide range of visual, cognitive, and motor functions (Park & Tadin, 2018; Pasternak & Tadin, 2020). Our understanding of motion processing has benefited from a tremendous volume of psychophysical and neurophysiological research.…”