The Evolution of Explanations of a Perceptual Phenomenon: A Case History Using the Ternus Effect

Petersik, J. Timothy; Rice, Curran M

doi:10.1068/p5522

Cited by 34 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…An alternative method for exploring non-retinotopic processing is the Ternus-Pikler paradigm, a bistable apparent motion display introduced by Gestalt psychologists about a century ago (Petersik & Rice, 2006;Pikler, 1917;Ternus, 1926). As we discuss in the next section, this paradigm has the advantage of pitting retinotopic and non-retinotopic processes against each other directly.…”

Section: Experimental Paradigms For Exploring Retinotopic Vs Nonretimentioning

confidence: 98%

Spatial properties of non-retinotopic reference frames in human vision

2015

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Many visual attributes of a target stimulus are computed according to dynamic, non-retinotopic reference frames. For example, the motion trajectory of a reflector on a bicycle wheel is perceived as orbital, even though it is in fact cycloidal in retinal, as well as spatial coordinates. We cannot perceive the cycloidal motion because the linear motion of the bike is discounted for. In other words, the linear motion common to all bicycle components serves as a non-retinotopic reference frame, with respect to which the residual (orbital) motion of the reflector is computed. Very little is known about the underlying mechanisms involved in formation and operation of non-retinotopic reference frames. Here, we investigate spatial properties of non-retinotopic reference frames. We show that reference frames are not restricted within the boundaries of moving stimuli but extend over space. By using a variation of the Ternus-Pikler paradigm, we show that the spatial extent of a non-retinotopic reference frame is independent of the size of the inducing elements and the target position near the object boundary. While dynamic reference-frames interact with each other significantly, a static reference-frame has no effect on a dynamic one. The magnitude of interactions between two neighboring dynamic reference-frames increases as the distance between them reduces. Finally, our results indicate that the reference-frame strength is significantly attenuated if the locus of attention is shifted to the elements of the neighboring reference instead of the main reference. We suggest that these results can be conceptualized as reference frames that act and interact as fields.

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Section: Experimental Paradigms For Exploring Retinotopic Vs Nonretimentioning

confidence: 98%

Spatial properties of non-retinotopic reference frames in human vision

2015

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“…The Ternus-Pikler display is an apparent motion stimulus, introduced by Gestalt psychologists about a century ago, and employed extensively since then to study the spatio-temporal aspects of human vision (Petersik & Rice, 2006;Pikler, 1917;Ternus, 1926). Figure 2 shows how the TernusPikler stimulus has been adopted for studying non-retinotopic attribution of stimulus features (Öğmen et al, 2006).…”

Section: Retinotopy Of Visual Masking In the Absence Of Eye Movementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retinotopy of visual masking and non-retinotopic perception during masking

Noory

Herzog

Öğmen

2015

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Due to the movements of the observer and those of objects in the environment, retinotopic representations are highly unstable during ecological viewing conditions. The phenomenal stability of our perception suggests that retinotopic representations are transformed into nonretinotopic representations. It remains to show, however, which visual processes operate under retinotopic representations and which ones operate under non-retinotopic representations. Visual masking refers to the reduced visibility of one stimulus, called the target, due to the presence of a second stimulus, called the mask. Masking has been used extensively to study the dynamic aspects of visual perception. Previous studies using Saccadic Stimulus Presentation Paradigm (SSPP) suggested both retinotopic and non-retinotopic bases for visual masking. In order to understand how the visual system deals with retinotopic changes induced by moving targets, we investigated the retinotopy of visual masking and the fate of masked targets under conditions that do not involve eye movements. We have developed a series of experiments based on a radial Ternus-Pikler display. In this paradigm, the perceived Ternus-Pikler motion is used as a non-retinotopic reference frame to pit retinotopic against non-retinotopic visual masking hypothesis. Our results indicate that both metacontrast and structure masking are retinotopic. We also show that, under conditions that allow observers to read-out effectively non-retinotopic feature attribution, the target becomes visible at a destination different from its retinotopic/ spatiotopic location. We discuss the implications of our findings within the context of ecological vision and dynamic form perception.

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“…The Ternus display provides a fascinating demonstration of motion correspondence between two visual frames (Petersik & Rice, 2006;Ternus, 1926) and an opportunity to investigate top-down influence on visual apparent motion (Yu, 2000). The Ternus display is an ambiguous display in which multiple correspondences are possible ( Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Observers could perceive either "element motion," in which the endmost dot is seen as moving back and forth while the middle dot at the overlapping or central position remains stationary (flashing), or "group motion," in which both dots appear to move in a manner of lateral displacement as a whole (Ternus, 1926). It has been proposed that in Ternus apparent motion, temporal and spatial grouping processes are in competition (He & Ooi, 1999;Kramer & Yantis, 1997;Petersik & Rice, 2006). At a short interstimulus interval (ISI) between the two frames, temporal grouping (temporal proximity) prevails; that is, the stimulus at the "overlapping" location (i.e., the second dot) of the first frame is likely to be grouped with the stimulus appearing at the same location (the first dot) in the second frame, leading to the percept of element motion.…”

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confidence: 99%

Visual apparent motion can be modulated by task-irrelevant lexical information

Chen

Zhou

2011

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Previous studies have repeatedly demonstrated the impact of Gestalt structural grouping principles upon the parsing of motion correspondence in ambiguous apparent motion. Here, by embedding Chinese characters in a visual Ternus display that comprised two stimulus frames, we showed that the perception of visual apparent motion can be modulated by activation of task-irrelevant lexical representations. Each frame had two disks, with the second disk of the first frame and the first disk of the second frame being presented at the same location. Observers could perceive either "element motion," in which the endmost disk is seen as moving back and forth while the middle disk at the central position remains stationary, or "group motion," in which both disks appear to move laterally as a whole. More reports of group motion, as opposed to element motion, were obtained when the embedded characters formed two-character compound words than when they formed nonwords, although this lexicality effect appeared to be attenuated by the use of the same characters at the overlapping position across the two frames. Thus, grouping of visual elements in a changing world can be guided by both structural principles and prior world knowledge, including lexical information.

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The Evolution of Explanations of a Perceptual Phenomenon: A Case History Using the Ternus Effect

Cited by 34 publications

References 50 publications

Spatial properties of non-retinotopic reference frames in human vision

Spatial properties of non-retinotopic reference frames in human vision

Retinotopy of visual masking and non-retinotopic perception during masking

Visual apparent motion can be modulated by task-irrelevant lexical information

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