Abstract
As we move through our environment, the flow of the deforming images on our retinae provides rich information about ego motion and about the three-dimensional structure of the external world. Flow-fields comprise five independent compenents, including radial and circular motion1á¤-3. Here we provide psychophysical evidence for the existence of neural mechanisms in human vision that integrate motion signals along these complex trajectories. Signal-to-noise sensitivity for discriminating the direction of radial, circular and translational motion increased predictably with the number of exposed sectors, implying the existence of specialized detectors that integrate motion signals of different directions from different locations. However, contrast sensitivity for complex motion did not increase greatly with sector number, implying that the specialized detectors are preceded by a first stage of local-motion mechanisms that impose a contrast threshold. These findings fit well with recent electrophysiological evidence in monkey4á¤-7 showing that whereas motion-sensitive neurons in primary visual cortex respond best to local translation, many neurons in the medial superior temporal cortex have large receptive fields tuned to radial, circular or spiral motion.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Helmholtz, H. Crelles J. 55, 25–39 (1858).
Koenderink, J. J. Vision Res. 26, 161–168 (1986).
Verri, A., Girosi, F. & Torre, V. J. opt. Soc. Am. A7, 912–922 (1990).
Tanaka, K. & Saito, H. J. Neurophysiol. 62, 626–641 (1989).
Duffy, C. J. & Wurtz, R. H. J. Neurophysiol. 65, 1329–1345 (1991).
Orban, G. A. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89, 2595–2599 (1992).
Graziano, M. S. A., Andersen, R. A. & Snowden, R. J. J. Neurosci. 14, 54–67 (1994).
Green, D. A. & Swets, J. A. Signal detection theory and psychophysics (Wiley, New York, 1966).
Barlow, H. B. Vision Res. 18, 637–655 (1978).
Graham, N. Vision Res. 17, 637–652 (1977).
Pelli, D. G. J. opt. Soc. Am. A2, 1508–1532 (1985).
Andersen, S. J. & Burr, D. C. Vision Res. 27, 621–635 (1987).
Anderson, S. J. & Burr, D. C. J. opt. Soc. Am. A8, 1330–1339 (1991).
Watamaniuk, S. N. J. & Sekuler, R. Vision Res. 32, 2341–2347 (1992).
Fredericksen, R. E., Verstraten, A. J. & van de Grind, W. A. Vision Res. 34, 3171–3188 (1994).
Morgan, M. J. Nature 355, 344–346 (1992).
Braddick, O. Vision Res. 14, 519–527 (1974).
Yang, Y. & Blake R. Nature 371, 793–796 (1994).
Regan, D. & Beverly, K. I., Vision Res. 18, 415–421 (1978).
Beverley, K. I. & Regan, D. Vision Res. 19, 1093–1104 (1979).
Petersik, J. T., Beverley, K. I. & Regan, D. Vision Res. 21, 829–832 (1981).
Saito, H.-A. et al. J. Neurosci. 7, 177–191 (1986).
Hannon, W. H. & Hannon, D. J. Nature 336, 162–163 (1988).
Warren, W. H. & Hannon, D. J. J. opt. Soc. Am. A7, 160–169 (1990).
Watson, A. B. & Pelli, D. G. Percept. Psychophys. 33, 113–120 (1983).
Nelder, J. A. & Mead, R. Computer J. 7, 308–313 (1964).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morrone, M., Burr, D. & Vaina, L. Two stages of visual processing for radial and circular motion. Nature 376, 507–509 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/376507a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/376507a0
This article is cited by
-
Motion-in-depth effects on interceptive timing errors in an immersive environment
Scientific Reports (2021)
-
Bio-inspired visual neural network on spatio-temporal depth rotation perception
Neural Computing and Applications (2021)
-
Towards developing a test of global motion for use with Paralympic athletes
Scientific Reports (2020)
-
Seeing the World as it is: Mimicking Veridical Motion Perception in Schizophrenia Using Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Healthy Participants
Brain Topography (2018)
-
Sensitivity of the avian motion system to light and dark stimuli
Experimental Brain Research (2017)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.