Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T06:58:33.172Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sensitivity to full-field visual movement compatible with head rotation: Variations among axes of rotation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Laurence R. Harris  and
Lori A. Lott
Laurence R. Harris
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
Lori A. Lott
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Movement detection thresholds for full-field visual motion about various axes were measured in three subjects using a two-alternative forced-choice staircase method. Thresholds for 1-s exposures to rotation about different rotation axes varied significantly over the range 0.139 ± 0.05 deg/s to 0.463 ± 0.166 deg/s. The highest thresholds were found in response to rotation about axes closely aligned to the line of sight. Variations among the thresholds for different axes could not be explained by different movement patterns in the fovea or variations in motion sensitivity with eccentricity. The variations can be well simulated by a three-channel model for coding the axis and velocity of full-field visual motion. A three-channel visual coding system would be well suited for extracting information about self-rotation from a complex pattern of retinal image motion containing components due to both rotation and translation. A three-channel visual motion system would also be readily compatible with vestibular information concerning self-rotation arising from the semicircular canals.

Keywords

Visual motionFull-field motionVisual detection thresholdsSelf motionChannels
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , July 1995 , pp. 743 - 754
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albright, T.D. (1989). Centrifugal directional bias in the middle temporal visual area (Mt) of the macaque. Visual Neuroscience 2, 177–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boussaoud, D., Desimone, R. & Ungerleider, L.G. (1992). Subcortical connections of visual areas MST and MT in macaques. Visual Neuroscience 9, 291–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, F.W. & Tedeger, R.W. (1991). A survey of channels and challenges of information and meaning. In Channels in the Visual Nervous System: Neurophysiology. Psychophysics and Models, ed., Blum, B.. London: Freund Publishing House.Google Scholar
Choudhury, B.P. & Crossey, A.D. (1981). Slow-movement sensitivity in the human field of vision. Physiology and Behavior 26, 125–128.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cole, G.R., Hine, T. & McIlhagga, W. (1993). Detection mechanisms in L-, M- and S- cone contrast space. Journal of the Optical Society of America 10, 38–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curthoys, I.S., Blanks, R.H.I. & Markham, C.H. (1977). Semicircular canal functional anatomy in cat, guinea pig and man. Acta Otolaryngolica 83, 258–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Beer, G.R. (1947). How animals hold their heads. Proc. Linnean Soc. 159, 125–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffy, C.J. & Wurtz, R.H. (1991 a). Sensitivity of MST neurons to optic flow stimuli, 1. A continuum of response selectivity to large-field stimuli. Journal of Neurophysiology 65, 1329–1345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duffy, C.J. & Wurtz, R.H. (1991 b). Sensitivity of MST neurons to optic flow stimuli, 2. Mechanisms of response selectivity revealed by small-field stimuli. Journal of Neurophysiology 65, 1346–1359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Georgeson, M.A. & Harris, M.G. (1978). Apparent foveofugal drift of counterphase gratings. Perception 7, 527–536.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, L.R. (1994). Visual motion caused by movements of the eye, head and body. In Delecting Visual Motion, ed. Smith, A.T. & Snowden, R., pp. 397–436. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Harris, L.R., Lewis, T.L. & Maurer, D. (1993). Brain-stem and cortical contributions to the generation of horizontal optokinetic eye-movements in humans. Visual Neuroscience 10, 247–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, L.R. & Lott, L.A. (1993). Thresholds for full-field visual motion indicate an axis based coding system similar to that of the vestibular system. Neuroscience Abstracts 19, 316.21.Google Scholar
Harris, L.R. & Lott, L.A. (1994). Thresholds for full-field visual motion: Variation with eye-in-head position. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 35, 2000.Google Scholar
Henderson, D.C. (1971). The relationship among time, distance, and intensity as determinants of motion discrimination. Perception and Psychophysics 10, 310–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, I.P. (1991). Adaptations to transformations of the optic array. In Presbyopia Research: From Molecular Biology to Visual Adaptation, ed. Gerecht, G. & Stark, L., pp. 73–81. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, l.P. & Howard, A. (1994). Vection: The contributions of absolute and relative visual motion. Perception 23, 745–751.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, C.A. & Leibowitz, H.W. (1976). Velocity time reciprocity in the perception of motion: Foveal and peripheral determinations. Vision Research 16, 177–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, C.A. & Scobey, R.P. (1982). Effects of reference lines on displacement thresholds at various durations of movement. Vision Research 22, 819–821.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnston, A. & Wright, M.J. (1985). Lower threshold of motion for gratings as a function of eccentricity and contrast. Vision Research 25, 179–185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinchla, R.A. (1971). Visual movement perception: A comparison between absolute and relative movement discrimination. Perception and Psychophysics 9, 165–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinson, E. & Sekuler, R. (1976). Adaptation alters perceived direction of motion. Vision Research 16, 779–781.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levitt, H. (1971). Transformed up-down methods in psychoacoustics. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 49, 467–477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lott, L.A. & Harris, L.R. (1993). The detection and discrimination of the velocity and direction of full-field motion. Perception 22, 73.Google Scholar
McKee, S.P. & Nakayama, K. (1984). The detection of motion in the peripheral visual-field. Vision Research 24, 25–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oyster, C.W., Takahashi, E. & Collewijn, H. (1972). Direction-selective retinal ganglion cells and control of optokinetic nystagmus in the rabbit. Vision Research 12, 183–193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quick, R.F. (1974). A vector magnitude model for contrast detection. Kybernetik 16, 65–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raymond, J.E. (1994). Directional anisotropy of motion sensitivity across the visual-field. Vision Research 34, 1029–1037.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Regan, D. (1982). Visual information channeling in normal and disordered vision. Psychological Review 89, 407–444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Regan, D. & Price, P. (1986). Periodicity in orientation discrimination and the unconfounding of visual direction. Vision Research 26, 1299–1302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodenburg, M., Stassen, H.P.W. & Maas, A.J.J. (1981). The threshold of perception of angular acceleration as a function of duration. Biological Cybernetics 39, 223–226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sakitt, B. & Barlow, H.B. (1982). A model for the economical encoding of the visual image in cerebral cortex. Biological Cybernetics 43, 97–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, J.I., Van der Steen, J., Tan, J., Graf, W. & Leonard, C.S. (1989). Representations of ocular rotations in the cerebellar flocculus of the rabbit. Progress in Brain Research 80, 213–223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simpson, J.I. (1984). The accessory optic system. Annual Review of Neuroscience 7, 13–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snowden, R.J. (1992). Sensitivity to relative and absolute motion. Perception 21, 563–568.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tan, M.S., van der Steen, J., Simpson, J.I. & Collewijn, H. (1993). 3-dimensional organization of optokinetic responses in the rabbit. Journal of Neurophysiology 69, 303–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanaka, K. & Saito, H. (1989). Analysis of motion of the visual field by direction, expansion/contraction, and rotation cells clustered in the dorsal part of the medial superior temporal area of the macaque monkey. Journal of Neurophysiology 62, 626–641.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyler, C.W. & Torres, J.T. (1972). Frequency response characteristics for sinusoidal movement in the fovea and the periphery. Perception and Psychophysics 12, 232–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tynan, P.D. & Sekuler, R. (1982). Motion processing in peripheral vision. Vision Research 22, 61–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ungerleider, L.G., Desimone, R., Galkin, T.W. & Mishkin, M. (1984). Subcortical projections of area Mt in the macaque. Journal of Comparative Neurology 223, 368–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wetherill, G.B. & Levitt, H. (1965). Sequential estimation of points on a psychometric function. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology 18, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wright, M.J. (1987). Spatiotemporal properties of grating motion detection in the center and the periphery of the visual-field. Journal of the Optical Society of America A — Optics and Image Science 4, 1627–1633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, M.J. & Johnston, A. (1985). The relationship of displacement thresholds for oscillating gratings to cortical magnification, spatiotemporal frequency and contrast. Vision Research 25, 187–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar