Cite as:
Hock H S, Nichols D F, 2004, "Separating the edge-based detection of object motion from the objectless detection of motion energy" Perception 33 ECVP Abstract Supplement

Separating the edge-based detection of object motion from the objectless detection of motion energy

H S Hock, D F Nichols

Motion-energy models are founded on the idea that low-level motion perception entails the detection of spatiotemporal changes in raw luminance (ie oriented energy) irrespective of other stimulus features, including the boundaries that segregate an object from its background and/or delineate the parts of the object. In this respect, the distinction between motion based on the detection of the edges of an object and motion based on the detection of motion energy corresponds to Wertheimer's distinction between beta motion and objectless phi motion. Support for this correspondence comes from a striped stimulus that produces Mach bands. Over time, luminance increases spread rightward over the length of the stimulus, but in a way that produces stimulus information specifying successive leftward motions of the edges of the stripes. This leftward motion is perceived when conditions make it possible to localise the edges. Otherwise, objectless phi motion is perceived in the motion-energy specified, rightward direction. These results, which cannot be accounted for by attentive feature tracking, suggest that there are independent mechanisms for the detection of object motion and the detection of objectless motion energy, a functional separation that may be valuable for discriminating the motion of objects from the optic flow produced by the perceiver's self-motion.

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ECVP 2004 Abstract Supplement (complete) size: 1686 Kb