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Motion Perception, Psychology of
George W Mather, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
CONTENTS
Introduction The motion after-effect
Uses of motion information Apparent motion
Motion cues Induced motion
trees or misplacing your feet. The powerful move- bright edge belonging to the figure moved right-
ment effects experienced in `Imax' movie theatres ward into a region of the image that was previously
are due to optic flow. dark (e.g. the shin of the leading leg). Decreases
occurred where the edge of the figure moved out
of a region of the image, returning that region to
MOTION CUES darkness (e.g. the calf of the leading leg). The brain
0581.006 The movement of objects under view, or of the can therefore infer the direction of a shape's move-
observer through the world, cause the spatial pat- ment by finding its edges, and then detecting
tern of light and dark in the image to fluctuate over whether the intensity of the image increases or
time. For example, if you are looking across a rela- decreases over time in the region of these edges.
tively dark room, and a friend wearing light Since the 1960s it has been discovered that the brain
clothing moves across your line of sight, then the possesses specialized `motion-detecting' neurons
amount of light falling in the small region of the that respond specifically to movement. Each
image at the centre of your vision will suddenly neuron responds only to movement in a specific
increase just as the friend intersects your line of direction over a small part of the image. Groups
sight, and then decrease again once they have of these first-stage neurons are connected to
passed through. If the room is empty, and you second-stage neurons that integrate information
switch on a light, then again the amount of light over relatively large areas of the scene, in order to
falling on the image at the centre of your vision will signal the movement of whole shapes and objects.
increase. How can the brain distinguish between
changes in image intensity due to movement and
changes due to other causes, such as changing illu-
THE MOTION AFTER-EFFECT
mination? In order to solve this problem, the brain The early Greeks were the first to discover a 0581.009
must combine information from several places in striking visual illusion now known as the motion
the image, rather than gathering information after-effect (or MAE). The philosopher Aristotle
from just one place at a time. A change in illumin- noticed that if he stood in the middle of a river,
ation causes a change in intensity everywhere in the and directed his gaze down at the fast-flowing
image simultaneously, whereas movement causes water for a short time, when he shifted his gaze
changes in only a very small part of the image at a towards the riverbank the stationary scene ap-
time, as Figure 1 demonstrates. peared to flow backwards in the opposite direction
0581.007 The left-hand and middle panels of Figure 1 show to the river. This illusion has been rediscovered a
two views of a scene containing a light human number of times, most famously by Thomas
figure moving across a dark background. It is diffi- Addams, a Scottish scientist, while touring the
cult to tell what movement has occurred between Scottish Highlands. He visited the Falls of Foyers
the two views by inspecting them individually. The on the banks of Loch Ness, and noticed that if he
right-hand panel in Figure 1 shows the changes in fixed his gaze on the falling waters for a short time,
light intensity that took place between the two and then looked at the rock face beside the falls, the
views. Bright areas correspond to places where rocks appeared to move upwards for a short time.
intensity increased over time from the first view For this reason the effect is also known as the
to the second view, and dark areas correspond to waterfall illusion. It is powerful, robust, and easily
places where intensity decreased from the first demonstrated. A convenient way to experience the
view to the second view. Grey areas were un- illusion today is to view the title credits of a TV
changed between the two views. Notice that the programme or movie. It is important to fix one's
`difference image' on the right effectively isolates gaze steadily at the centre of the screen rather than
the parts of the scene that contained movement. track the credits as they roll by. After about 30
Stationary features disappear. This would allow seconds of adaptation, subsequently viewed scenes
the observer to detect the presence of movement, should appear to move in the opposite direction to
perhaps for figure±ground segregation. the credits.
0581.008 Is it possible to infer the direction in which the The MAE is thought to arise from adaptation in 0581.010
figure was moving? Some parts of the scene in- motion-detecting neurons in the brain, of the kind
creased in intensity over time (light in the right- described in the previous section. While viewing an
hand panel), and other parts of the scene decreased image containing contours moving in a particular
in intensity over time (dark in the right-hand direction, cells `tuned' to respond to that direction
panel). Increases in intensity occurred where a will initially respond quite strongly. However, after
Galley: Article - 00581
Motion Perception, Psychology of 3
prolonged exposure their ability to respond is re- first position or at the second (dashed outlines).
duced, and takes some time to recover back to Observers do perceive movement in stimuli of
normal levels. Our perception of movement this kind ± it is the basis for the movement seen in
depends on a competition between cells tuned to TV and movies. TV images are displayed as a series
different directions, rather like a tug-of-war, as of static images or frames presented very rapidly
shown in Figure 2. Normally, in the presence of a (50 frames per second in Europe, 60 frames per
stationary image and without prior exposure to second in the USA). Any impression of movement
motion, the two opposing teams (`left' and `right' seen in TV images is an illusion created by discrete
in the top row of Figure 2) are well matched at a changes in object position from one frame to the
low level of activity, so we see no motion. While next in the display sequence. This kind of illusory
viewing a rightward-moving pattern the `right' perceived movement is called `apparent move-
team is very active, and easily overcomes the `left' ment' or `phi movement', to distinguish it from
team to win the competition, leading us to see the real movement seen in natural images. Why is
rightward motion (middle panel of Figure 2). After- the apparent motion so effective and compelling? A
wards, the `right' team takes some time to recover, common fallacy is that it results from the `persist-
allowing the `left' team to win even while not ence of vision'. According to this explanation, each
very active in the presence of a stationary pattern static image persists in our vision for a short time,
(bottom panel of Figure 2). As a result, illusory so that successively presented static images blend
motion is seen ± the MAE. Once the adapted together into one apparently continuous scene.
neurons recover, any bias in favour of one team However, it is known that visible persistence lasts
disappears, so the illusion is no longer seen. Per- only about one-tenth of a second, yet apparent
ceptual research on the properties of the MAE indi- motion can be seen between two stationary shapes
cate that the illusion represents the combined effect even when the second shape appears half a second
of adaptation in at least two populations of cells in after the first shape has disappeared. Visible per-
the brain, probably corresponding to the first-stage sistence may contribute to the perceived smooth-
and second-stage motion-detecting neurons de- ness of apparent motion, but it cannot account for
scribed above. the perception of motion itself. The effectiveness of
apparent motion stimuli is almost certainly due to
their ability to activate motion-detecting neurons in
APPARENT MOTION the brain. As described earlier, motion-detecting
0581.011 In natural images of real scenes, moving objects neurons rely on the systematic changes in image
change position in the image in a smooth, continu- intensity created by a moving object. Apparent
ous manner. If one could inspect the image over motion stimuli also create systematic changes in
shorter and shorter time periods, the shift in pos- image intensity. Provided that the parameters of
ition would become smaller and smaller, until at the apparent motion sequence are chosen carefully,
infinitesimally small time intervals, the position it should excite motion-detecting neurons as effect-
shift would also be infinitesimal. For example, the ively as real movement. As one would predict from
left-hand panel of Figure 3 shows a disk drifting to this explanation, good apparent motion is indistin-
the right over time. Space is plotted horizontally, guishable from real movement. Movie and TV ani-
and time is plotted vertically. The solid outlines mations do seem very smooth and realistic, unless
represent the positions of the disk at times 1 and one sits in the very first row in front of a large
16. The dashed outlines represent the positions of movie screen. From this position the discontinuity
the disk at intermediate times. For obvious reasons, of the movement, particularly in fast action se-
this kind of movement is called `real movement'. quences, can be seen easily.
0581.012 It is also possible to create the perception of However, responses in motion-detecting neurons 0581.013
movement in an image by changing the position are not the only explanation for apparent move-
of an object suddenly over a relatively large dis- ment. It has also been argued that we can perceive
tance. If one could inspect the image over suffi- motion independently of activity in neural detect-
ciently short time periods, there would be no shift ors, as a result of perceptual inferences or of shifts
in position. For example, the right-hand panel of in attention. According to the perceptual inference
Figure 3 shows a disk occupying just two discrete theory, apparent motion is the outcome of a per-
positions. As before, the solid outlines represent ceptual inference to explain the otherwise mysteri-
the positions of the disk at times 1 and 16. The ously sudden appearance and disappearance of
disk shifts position only once, at time 8. So at all shapes in apparent motion displays. According to
other times the disk remains stationary either at the the attention-shift theory, apparent motion can also
Galley: Article - 00581
4 Motion Perception, Psychology of
be perceived when mobile shapes or objects in the movement in the image can be accounted for en-
image capture and hold the attention of the viewer. tirely by bodily movement, then no motion is per-
As the objects change position in the image, one's ceived. For example, eye movements create
focus of attention shifts to keep track of them. This movement in the image. When the eyes turn to
shift in attention itself gives rise to the perception of the left, the whole image translates to the right on
apparent motion. Advocates of such high-level pro- the retina. This translation excites motion-detecting
cesses do not see them as inconsistent with the neurons in the brain, yet we do not perceive the
notion of lower-level neural motion detection, but world to move. The image motion that results from
rather as separate processes that co-exist with low- eye movement is correctly attributed to the eye
level detection. It therefore seems likely that the movement, so no motion is perceived. A second
perception of apparent movement is mediated strategy, or heuristic, used in motion attribution
both by low-level processes (motion-detecting relies on assumptions about the nature of the real
neurons) and by high-level processes (inference world. In general, relatively large shapes and
and attention). objects in a viewed scene tend to remain fixed in
position, while small shapes and objects are likely
to move. Large areas in a viewed scene may be
INDUCED MOTION
filled by, for example, the wall of a building or the
0581.014 On a cloudy, moonlit night, as relatively large side of a hill. These shapes are extremely unlikely
clouds move quickly across the face of the moon, to move. Small areas, perhaps representing human
it often seems as if the clouds are stationary but the or animal figures, or vehicles, are very likely to
moon is moving. This illusion is an example of move. Consequently if there is relative movement
`induced motion': the appearance of motion in a between a small object and a large surrounding
stationary stimulus induced by the physical move- object, then the brain has a tendency to attribute
ment of another stimulus. Generally, induced the motion to the small object.
motion is most effective when a large, slowly
moving shape surrounds a smaller, stationary Further Reading
shape, such as the moon surrounded by clouds.
Mather G, Verstraten F and Anstis S (eds) (1998) The
0581.015 The simplest demonstration of induced motion
Motion Aftereffect: A Modern Perspective. Cambridge,
consists of a small spot surrounded by a large
MA: MIT Press.
frame, as shown in Figure 4. If the frame moves Palmer SE (1999) Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology.
slowly sideways while the spot remains stationary Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
(left-hand panel), observers tend to perceive the Smith AT and Snowden RJ (eds) (1994) Visual Detection of
frame as stationary and the spot as moving (right- Motion. London: Academic Press.
hand panel). Induced motion highlights the prob- Watanabe T (ed.) (1998) High-level Motion Processing.
lem of motion attribution. As mentioned earlier, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
movement in the visual image is detected by spe-
cialized motion-detecting neurons. Image motion Glossary
can arise from two general sources, either move-
Balance sense The sensory system that provides infor-
ment of objects in the scene under view, or
mation about the attitude of the body relative to gravi-
movement of the observer's body. It is obviously tational vertical, and about acceleration of the body
crucial to attribute motion to the correct source, but through space; its sense organ (vestibular organ) forms
responses in motion-detecting neurons cannot dis- part of the inner ear.
tinguish between them. The brain appears to use Motion attribution The perceptual process by which
several strategies to solve the problem of motion visual movement on the retina is attributed to move-
attribution. These strategies are usually sufficient ment of a particular shape or object in the environment,
to arrive at the correct interpretation, but in certain or to movement of the observer through the environ-
situations the interpretation may be erroneous, ment, or some combination of the two.
leading to illusions such as induced motion. One Motion-detecting neuron A neuron in the central ner-
vous system (in the cortex in primates) that is special-
strategy is to make use of nonvisual information in
ized to respond only to visual stimuli that move across
order to determine whether the observer is moving
the retina in a particular direction and at a particular
through the scene. Movement of the eye, head, and speed.
body can be established using information from the Optic flow The expanding pattern of light on the retina
muscles (or from commands to move the muscles), that results from relative motion between the observer
and from the balance (vestibular) sense. When and the environment (e.g. walking, driving).
Galley: Article - 00581
Motion Perception, Psychology of 5
Perceptual inference An explanation for perception in spatial positions, yet cannot perceive an object moving
which our sensory experience is the outcome of a across the gap between the positions.
reasoning-like process that operates at an unconscious Retina Light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, onto
level. which the visual image is projected; it contains photo-
Phi movement An illusion of movement in which obser- receptors that produce electrical signals when struck by
vers report the appearance of movement between two light.
Keywords: (Check)
motion detection; adaptation; optic flow; figure±ground segregation; illusion
0581f001 Figure 1. Cues for motion detection. The left and middle panels show two views of a human figure moving across the
field of view, taken at slightly different times. The right panel shows the changes in light intensity that took place
between the two views. This `difference image' was created simply by subtracting the light intensities in the first image
from the intensities in the second image, at each point in the image. Bright areas correspond to places where intensity
increased over time from the first view to the second view, and dark areas correspond to places where intensity
decreased from the first view to the second view. Grey areas were unchanged between the two views. The `difference
image' effectively selects only the parts of the scene that moved in between the first view and the second view
Galley: Article - 00581
6 Motion Perception, Psychology of
NO MOTION
Stationary Pattern
(before adaptation)
L L L R R R
Rightwards Motion
(during adaptation)
L L R R R
L
Stationary Pattern
(after adaptation)
L L L R R
R
Time
8
12
16
0581f003 Figure 3. Real movement versus apparent movement. Space is plotted horizontally and time is plotted vertically. In
real movement (left) the disk changes position smoothly and continuously over time as it moves to the right. In
apparent movement (right) the disk changes position just once over a relatively large distance, and is stationary at all
other times. Both stimuli lead to the perception of motion
Stimulus Perception
Figures 1 and 2 captions, cf. text discussions: there is a lot of duplication of text here.
Bearing in mind that they will be set close together in the finished volume, can any pruning of
one or the other be carried out?