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The primary role of flow processing in the identification of scene-relative object movement

Rushton, Simon K ; Niehorster, Diederick C LU orcid ; Warren, Paul A and Li, Li (2018) In The Journal of Neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 38(7). p.1737-1743
Abstract

Retinal image motion could be due to movement of the observer through space or an object relative to the scene. Optic flow, form, and change of position cues all provide information that could be used to separate out retinal motion due to object movement from retinal motion due to observer movement. In Experiment 1 we used a minimal display to examine the contribution of optic flow and form cues. Human participants indicated the direction of movement of a probe object presented against a background of radially moving pairs of dots. By independently controlling the orientation of each dot pair, we were able to put flow cues to self-movement direction (the point from which all the motion radiated) and form cues to self-movement direction... (More)

Retinal image motion could be due to movement of the observer through space or an object relative to the scene. Optic flow, form, and change of position cues all provide information that could be used to separate out retinal motion due to object movement from retinal motion due to observer movement. In Experiment 1 we used a minimal display to examine the contribution of optic flow and form cues. Human participants indicated the direction of movement of a probe object presented against a background of radially moving pairs of dots. By independently controlling the orientation of each dot pair, we were able to put flow cues to self-movement direction (the point from which all the motion radiated) and form cues to self-movement direction (the point all the dot pairs were oriented towards) in conflict. We found that only flow cues influenced perceived probe movement. In Experiment 2 we switched to a rich stereo display comprised of 3D objects to examine the contribution of flow and position cues. We moved the scene objects to simulate a lateral translation and counter-rotation of gaze. By changing the polarity of the scene objects (from light to dark and vice-versa) between frames, we placed flow cues to self-movement direction in opposition to change of position cues. We found that again flow cues dominated the perceived probe movement relative to the scene. Taken together, these experiments indicate the neural network that processes optic flow has a primary role in the identification of scene-relative object movement.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTMotion of an object in the retinal image indicates relative movement between the observer and the object, but it does not indicate its cause: movement of an object in the scene; movement of the observer; or both. To isolate retinal motion due to movement of a scene object, the brain must parse out the retinal motion due to movement of the eye ("flow parsing"). Optic flow, form and position cues all have potential roles in this process. We pitted the cues against each other and assessed their influence. We found flow parsing relies on optic flow alone. These results indicate the primary role of the neural network that processes optic flow in the identification of scene-relative object movement.

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author
; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Journal Article
in
The Journal of Neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
volume
38
issue
7
pages
1737 - 1743
publisher
Society for Neuroscience
external identifiers
  • pmid:29229707
  • scopus:85042106356
ISSN
1529-2401
DOI
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3530-16.2017
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
f4032552-290a-4f95-ba4e-bf60c999f888
date added to LUP
2017-12-24 09:22:20
date last changed
2024-02-13 11:05:53
@article{f4032552-290a-4f95-ba4e-bf60c999f888,
  abstract     = {{<p>Retinal image motion could be due to movement of the observer through space or an object relative to the scene. Optic flow, form, and change of position cues all provide information that could be used to separate out retinal motion due to object movement from retinal motion due to observer movement. In Experiment 1 we used a minimal display to examine the contribution of optic flow and form cues. Human participants indicated the direction of movement of a probe object presented against a background of radially moving pairs of dots. By independently controlling the orientation of each dot pair, we were able to put flow cues to self-movement direction (the point from which all the motion radiated) and form cues to self-movement direction (the point all the dot pairs were oriented towards) in conflict. We found that only flow cues influenced perceived probe movement. In Experiment 2 we switched to a rich stereo display comprised of 3D objects to examine the contribution of flow and position cues. We moved the scene objects to simulate a lateral translation and counter-rotation of gaze. By changing the polarity of the scene objects (from light to dark and vice-versa) between frames, we placed flow cues to self-movement direction in opposition to change of position cues. We found that again flow cues dominated the perceived probe movement relative to the scene. Taken together, these experiments indicate the neural network that processes optic flow has a primary role in the identification of scene-relative object movement.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTMotion of an object in the retinal image indicates relative movement between the observer and the object, but it does not indicate its cause: movement of an object in the scene; movement of the observer; or both. To isolate retinal motion due to movement of a scene object, the brain must parse out the retinal motion due to movement of the eye ("flow parsing"). Optic flow, form and position cues all have potential roles in this process. We pitted the cues against each other and assessed their influence. We found flow parsing relies on optic flow alone. These results indicate the primary role of the neural network that processes optic flow in the identification of scene-relative object movement.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rushton, Simon K and Niehorster, Diederick C and Warren, Paul A and Li, Li}},
  issn         = {{1529-2401}},
  keywords     = {{Journal Article}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{1737--1743}},
  publisher    = {{Society for Neuroscience}},
  series       = {{The Journal of Neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience}},
  title        = {{The primary role of flow processing in the identification of scene-relative object movement}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3530-16.2017}},
  doi          = {{10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3530-16.2017}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}