Visual motion perception.

Abstract

The primate visual motion system performs numerous functions essential for survival in a dynamic visual world. Prominent among these functions is the ability to recover and represent the trajectories of objects in a form that facilitates behavioral responses to those movements. The first step toward this goal, which consists of detecting the displacement of retinal image features, has been studied for many years in both psychophysical and neurobiological experiments. Evidence indicates that achievement of this step is computationally straightforward and occurs at the earliest cortical stage. The second step involves the selective integration of retinal motion signals according to the object of origin.Realization ofthis step is computationally demanding, as the solution is formally underconstrained. It must rely-by definition-upon utilization of retinal cues that are indicative of the spatial relationships within and between objects in the visual scene. Psychophysical experiments have documented this dependence and suggested mechanisms by which it may be achieved. Neurophysiological experiments have provided evidence for a neural substrate that may underlie this selective motion signal integration. Together they paint a coherent portrait of the means by which retinal image motion gives rise to our perceptual experience of moving objects.Motion of an image on one's retina reflects a change in one's visual environment. From the point of view of survival, the ability to detect such motion is one of the most important functions performed by the primate visual system. Motion perception has been a subject of study for many decades in psychophysical experiments. More recently, it has also been a central focus of both neurobiological and computational studies. In consequence, it is a system for which we now have a unique and critical convergence of information. Indeed, visual motion processing is arguably the most well-understood sensory subsystem in the primate brain.By comparison with the state of our knowledge, the scope of this review is fairly circumscribed. For example we will consider only the primate visual system and, specifically, the geniculo-striateextrastriate pathways. Our discussion will also be limited to but a small sweep of the manifold functions performed by the primate motion processing subsystem. We will begin by briefly reviewing the origin and substance of the contemporary view that visual motion is processed by a basic and well-defined neural system. The Motion Processing ApparatusElementism-the reductive interpretation of perception as merely the association of a set of basic sensory elements-was a dominant theme in mid-19th century perceptual psychology. According to this influential doctrine, motion was not thought to be directly sensed but rather indirectly inferred from the association of light sensations at different points in space and time. That is to say, motion was not thought to be directly sensed but rather indirectly inferred. This view of motion perception began to fade in th...

A comparison of visual and auditory representational momentum in spatial tasks

“…Localization Location cues in moving objects change at each point in time. The visual system senses motion from the pattern of displaced retinal image features (Albright & Stoner, 1995), whereas the auditory system is provided with dynamically changing interaural time or interaural intensity differences (Middlebrooks & Green, 1991). The analysis of these cues requires highly developed neuronal circuits that enable us to integrate motion features and to perceive dynamic aspects of our environment.…”

Distortions of perceived auditory and visual space following adaptation to motion

“…Rather, when an object translates across external space in front of an observer, salient sources of motion information are typically available to both the visual and auditory systems. It is well established that the human visual system contains specialised and dedicated mechanisms for analysing object motion Albright and Stoner 1995). In contrast, our understanding of the processes and structures underlying auditory motion processing remains comparatively poor.…”

Field-like interactions between motion-based reference frames

“…In the 1980s and 1990s, significant advances occurred in characterizing the neurophysiological and computational properties of neurons that show selectivity to motion (Albright & Stoner, 1995;Lu & Sperling, 2001). These neurons can be described as retinotopically anchored spatio-temporal filters with receptive fields that are oriented in space-time and that contain center-surround antagonism (Adelson & Bergen, 1985;Watson & Ahumada, 1985).…”