what phenomenon unique to human vision allows us to perceive motion? course hero

by Jamey Deckow DDS 3 min read

Full Answer

What part of the brain is responsible for motion perception?

The visual cortex fills in the missing part of the motion and we see the object moving. The beta effect is used in movies to create the experience of motion. A related effect is the phi phenomenon, in which we perceive a sensation of motion caused by the appearance and disappearance of objects that are near each other.

What is vision in science?

Key Takeaways 1 Vision is the process of detecting the electromagnetic energy that surrounds us. ... 2 The visual receptor cells on the retina detect shape, color, motion, and depth. 3 Light enters the eye through the transparent cornea and passes through the pupil at the center of the iris. ... More items...

What is motion perception and what causes it?

Motion perception is studied by many disciplines, including psychology (i.e. visual perception ), neurology, neurophysiology, engineering, and computer science . The inability to perceive motion is called akinetopsia and it may be caused by a lesion to cortical area V5 in the extrastriate cortex.

How do we see motion in movies?

In the beta effect, our eyes detect motion from a series of still images, each with the object in a different place. This is the fundamental mechanism of motion pictures (movies). In the phi phenomenon, the perception of motion is based on the momentary hiding of an image.

How is motion detected in vision?

Why is the motion direction of a contour ambiguous?

Which direction do ganglion cells respond to?

When were directionally selective cells discovered?

What is apparent motion?

How can we improve detection and discrimination of motion?

What is beta movement?

See 4 more

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What is the phenomenon unique to human vision that allows us to perceive motion?

Gestalt principles of movement perception In 1912 Wertheimer discovered the phi phenomenon, an optical illusion in which stationary objects shown in rapid succession, transcending the threshold at which they can be perceived separately, appear to move.

How do humans perceive motion?

Q: How does the human eye handle motion perception? Motion perception is handled in the retina as light-sensing cells convert light into electric pulses while the rods and cones of the retina sense motion. The brain then interprets this information.

What is motion perception in psychology?

Motion perception is an aspect of spatial perception and is the process of inferring the speed and direction of elements in a scene based on visual input.

What is visual perception in psychology?

Visual perception is the brain's ability to receive, interpret, and act upon visual stimuli.

Is human vision based on movement?

To get a better look at the world around them, animals constantly are in motion. Primates and people use complex eye movements to focus their vision (as humans do when reading, for instance); birds, insects, and rodents do the same by moving their heads, and can even estimate distances that way.

Why do we need motion perception?

Motion perception is important for figure±ground segregation, three-dimensional vision, and visual guidance of action. Specialized brain cells detect image motion. Adaptation in these cells leads to illusory motion, such as the motion after-effect.

How does vision work to detect motion and suppress background?

How does vision work to detect motion and suppress background? One kind of cell will track motion and form neuro signals which are transformed to brain to form an image while another kind of cell suppresses the background which we are not paying attention to.

What is first order motion perception?

Perception of visual motion depends on processing of different physical cues by the human brain. First -order motion refers to a change in luminance over space and time, as when a shadow passes over the ground.

What is biological motion illusion?

Biological motion perception (BMP) refers to the ability to perceive the moving form of a human figure from a limited amount of stimuli, such as from a few point lights located on the joints of a moving body. BMP is commonplace and important, but there is great inter-individual variability in this ability.

What is visual perception and why is it important?

It refers to the brain's ability to draw conclusions from the information absorbed through the eyes. Visual perception is necessary for reading, writing, and movement. Without it, children may find daily tasks such as completing homework, solving puzzles, or getting dressed extremely stressful.

What is mean by visual perception and its example?

Visual perception is the ability to see, organize, and interpret one's environment. In our example, your eyes 'took in' the lines as well as the points on the ends of the lines. At the same time, your brain was organizing and making sense of the image.

What are the theories of visual perception?

Theories of Visual Perception. Our eyes have a tendency to group objects involuntarily. Designers learn to impose a grouping in the way they organize materials. Optical units that are close together tend to be seen together because our eyes group visual elements that are in close proximity.

Is motion perception innate?

Visual cortex neurons are arranged into maps according to their response selectivity. Ocular dominance and orientation selectivity maps can develop without visual experience.

Which two cues are used in the perception of movement?

Motion parallax is a type of depth perception cue in which objects that are closer, appear to move faster than objects that are far away. Motion parallax is a monocular cue, as it can be perceived through the use of one eye, versus a binocular cue, that requires two eyes to be perceived.

What part of the brain detects movement?

In the human brain researchers found an area in the occipital cortex (V5/middle temporal area (MT)), which proved to be highly specialized for visual motion detection [151]. This area is the possible human homolog of the MT-MST area in the monkey brain, which has been in the focus of attention of researchers recently.

What is first order motion perception?

Perception of visual motion depends on processing of different physical cues by the human brain. First -order motion refers to a change in luminance over space and time, as when a shadow passes over the ground.

B.A. II Psychology – Paper A MOVEMENT PERCEPTION - G.C.G.-11

Optic Flow Optical flow or optic flow is the pattern of apparent motion of objects, surfaces, and edges in a visual scene caused by the relative motion between an observer (an eye or a camera) and the scene.

Visual motion perception - PubMed

The primate visual motion system performs numerous functions essential for survival in a dynamic visual world. Prominent among these functions is the ability to recover and represent the trajectories of objects in a form that facilitates behavioral responses to those movements. The first step toward …

movement perception | process | Britannica

movement perception, process through which humans and other animals orient themselves to their own or others’ physical movements. Most animals, including humans, move in search of food that itself often moves; they move to avoid predators and to mate. Animals must perceive their own movements to balance themselves and to move effectively; without such perceptual functions the chances for ...

How is motion detected in vision?

It is now known that motion detection in vision is based on the Hassenstein-Reichardt detector model. This is a model used to detect correlation between the two adjacent points. It consists of two symmetrical subunits. Both subunits have a receptor that can be stimulated by an input (light in the case of visual system). In each subunit, when an input is received, a signal is sent to the other subunit. At the same time, the signal is delayed in time within the subunit, and after the temporal filter, is then multiplied by the signal received from the other subunit. Thus, within each subunit, the two brightness values, one received directly from its receptor with a time delay and the other received from the adjacent receptor, are multiplied. The multiplied values from the two subunits are then subtracted to produce an output. The direction of selectivity or preferred direction is determined by whether the difference is positive or negative. The direction which produces a positive outcome is the preferred direction.

Why is the motion direction of a contour ambiguous?

The motion direction of a contour is ambiguous, because the motion component parallel to the line cannot be inferred based on the visual input. This means that a variety of contours of different orientations moving at different speeds can cause identical responses in a motion sensitive neuron in the visual system.

Which direction do ganglion cells respond to?

The direction selective (DS) ganglion cells receive inputs from bipolar cells and starburst amacrine cells. The DS ganglion cells respond to their preferred direction with a large excitatory postsynaptic potential followed by a small inhibitory response. On the other hand, they respond to their null direction with a simultaneous small excitatory postsynaptic potential and a large inhibitory postsynaptic potential. Starburst amacrine cells have been viewed as a strong candidate for direction selectivity in ganglion cells because they can release both GABA and Ach. Their dendrites branch out radiantly from a soma, and there is a significant dendritic overlap. Optical measurements of Ca 2+ concentration showed that they respond strongly to the centrifugal motion (the outward motion from the soma to the dendrites), while they don't respond well to the centripetal motion (the inward motion from the dendritic tips to the soma). When the starburst cells were ablated with toxins, direction selectivity was eliminated. Moreover, their release of neurotransmitters itself, specifically calcium ions, reflect direction selectivity, which may be presumably attributed to the synaptic pattern. The branching pattern is organized such that certain presynaptic input will have more influence on a given dendrite than others, creating a polarity in excitation and inhibition. Further evidence suggests that starburst cells release inhibitory neurotransmitters, GABA onto each other in a delayed and prolonged manner. This accounts for the temporal property of inhibition.

When were directionally selective cells discovered?

The study of directionally selective units began with a discovery of such cells in the cerebral cortex of cats by David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel in 1959. Following the initial report, an attempt to understand the mechanism of directionally selective cells was pursued by Horace B. Barlow and William R. Levick in 1965. Their in-depth experiments in rabbit's retina expanded the anatomical and physiological understanding of the vertebrate visual system and ignited the interest in the field. Numerous studies that followed thereafter have unveiled the mechanism of motion sensing in vision for the most part. Alexander Borst and Thomas Euler 's 2011 review paper, "Seeing Things in Motion: Models, Circuits and Mechanisms". discusses certain important findings from the early discoveries to the recent work on the subject, coming to the conclusion of the current status of the knowledge.

What is apparent motion?

This is also termed " apparent motion " and is the basis of movies and television. However, at faster alternation rates, and if ...

How can we improve detection and discrimination of motion?

Detection and discrimination of motion can be improved by training with long-term results. Participants trained to detect the movements of dots on a screen in only one direction become particularly good at detecting small movements in the directions around that in which they have been trained. This improvement was still present 10 weeks later. However perceptual learning is highly specific. For example, the participants show no improvement when tested around other motion directions, or for other sorts of stimuli.

What is beta movement?

Example of Beta movement, often confused with phi phenomenon, in which a succession of still images gives the illusion of a moving ball. Two or more stimuli that are switched on and off in alternation can produce two different motion percepts. The first, demonstrated in the figure to the right is " Beta movement ", often used in billboard displays, ...

What is the effect of seeing individual images at a high speed?

But the opposite is of course, also true. Seeing individual images at a high speed creates the illusion of motion. Joseph Plateau’s invention of the phenakistoscope shows us this. With individual drawings placed on a circular disk and spun, the drawings would appear to be moving.

Why is the illusion of motion created?

Persistence of vision is the optical phenomenon where the illusion of motion is created because the brain interprets multiple still images as one. When multiple images appear in fast enough succession, the brain blends them into a single, persistent, moving image.

How many frames per second is a 2 frame animation?

Animating “on twos” — when one image is shown for every two frames at a total of 12 frames per second, it allows for smooth motion

How many images can the human eye process per second?

The human eye and brain can only process about 12 separate images per second, retaining an image for 1/16 of a second. If a subsequent image is replaced during this time frame, an illusion of continuity is created.

What is optical phenomenon?

Definition of an Optical Phenomenon. O ne of the most fascinating aspects of animation is the creation of visual continuity and motion, through still images. While technology may have changed the way animation works today, it hasn’t changed the underlying mechanism of the craft. If you’ve ever seen anything move on screen, ...

What is the eye's experience?

The eye takes in many different experiences—color, light, depth, form and motion. All of this data is sent to different areas of the brain. It’s this consistent flow and communication between different pathways and areas of the brain, that give us our unique perception and ability to witness such phenomenons.

Which is the earliest animation?

Earliest animation • The Phenakistoscope. These theorists focused more on the eye retaining the image. However, it has been discovered that this phenomenon has less to do with how long the brain can retain an image than it does with how the brain interacts and computes all of the data once retained.

How many basic shots are there in a motion picture?

The three basic shots of the motion picture are....

What does "camera obscura" mean?

The term "camera obscura" means "dark room". T or F?

How many basic shots are there in a motion picture?

The three basic shots of the motion picture are...

How long does it take to get a daguerreotype to show up?

A typical exposure time for a daguerreotype is 3-5 minutes.

How do we experience motion?

We also experience motion when objects near each other change their appearance. The beta effect refers to the perception of motion that occurs when different images are presented next to each other in succession (see Note 4.43 “Beta Effect and Phi Phenomenon” ). The visual cortex fills in the missing part of the motion and we see the object moving. The beta effect is used in movies to create the experience of motion. A related effect is the phi phenomenon, in which we perceive a sensation of motion caused by the appearance and disappearance of objects that are near each other. The phi phenomenon looks like a moving zone or cloud of background color surrounding the flashing objects. The beta effect and the phi phenomenon are other examples of the importance of the gestalt—our tendency to “see more than the sum of the parts.”

What is the branch of psychology that studies the effects of physical stimuli on sensory perceptions and mental states?

Psychophysics is the branch of psychology that studies the effects of physical stimuli on sensory perceptions and mental states. The field of psychophysics was founded by the German psychologist Gustav Fechner (1801–1887), who was the first to study the relationship between the strength of a stimulus and a person’s ability to detect the stimulus.

Why are light waves perceived as brighter?

Light waves with shorter frequencies are perceived as more blue than red; light waves with higher intensity are seen as brighter. In his important research on color vision, Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) theorized that color is perceived because the cones in the retina come in three types.

What is the lens behind the pupil?

Behind the pupil is the lens , a structure that focuses the incoming light on the retina , the layer of tissue at the back of the eye that contains photoreceptor cells. As our eyes move from near objects to distant objects, a process known as visual accommodation occurs. Visual accommodation is the process of changing the curvature of the lens to keep the light entering the eye focused on the retina. Rays from the top of the image strike the bottom of the retina and vice versa, and rays from the left side of the image strike the right part of the retina and vice versa, causing the image on the retina to be upside down and backward. Furthermore, the image projected on the retina is flat, and yet our final perception of the image will be three dimensional.

How do we sense the kaleidoscope of sounds, smells, and tastes that surround us?

Humans possess powerful sensory capacities that allow us to sense the kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, smells, and tastes that surround us. Our eyes detect light energy and our ears pick up sound waves. Our skin senses touch, pressure, hot, and cold. Our tongues react to the molecules of the foods we eat, and our noses detect scents in the air. The human perceptual system is wired for accuracy, and people are exceedingly good at making use of the wide variety of information available to them (Stoffregen & Bardy, 2001).

What is depth perception?

Depth perception is the ability to perceive three-dimensional space and to accurately judge distance. Without depth perception, we would be unable to drive a car, thread a needle, or simply navigate our way around the supermarket (Howard & Rogers, 2001). Research has found that depth perception is in part based on innate capacities and in part learned through experience (Witherington, 2005).

How does psychology help in everyday life?

Psychology in Everyday Life: How Understanding Sensation and Perception Can Save Lives. Human factors is the field of psychology that uses psychological knowledge, including the principles of sensation and perception, to improve the development of technology.

How is motion detected in vision?

It is now known that motion detection in vision is based on the Hassenstein-Reichardt detector model. This is a model used to detect correlation between the two adjacent points. It consists of two symmetrical subunits. Both subunits have a receptor that can be stimulated by an input (light in the case of visual system). In each subunit, when an input is received, a signal is sent to the other subunit. At the same time, the signal is delayed in time within the subunit, and after the temporal filter, is then multiplied by the signal received from the other subunit. Thus, within each subunit, the two brightness values, one received directly from its receptor with a time delay and the other received from the adjacent receptor, are multiplied. The multiplied values from the two subunits are then subtracted to produce an output. The direction of selectivity or preferred direction is determined by whether the difference is positive or negative. The direction which produces a positive outcome is the preferred direction.

Why is the motion direction of a contour ambiguous?

The motion direction of a contour is ambiguous, because the motion component parallel to the line cannot be inferred based on the visual input. This means that a variety of contours of different orientations moving at different speeds can cause identical responses in a motion sensitive neuron in the visual system.

Which direction do ganglion cells respond to?

The direction selective (DS) ganglion cells receive inputs from bipolar cells and starburst amacrine cells. The DS ganglion cells respond to their preferred direction with a large excitatory postsynaptic potential followed by a small inhibitory response. On the other hand, they respond to their null direction with a simultaneous small excitatory postsynaptic potential and a large inhibitory postsynaptic potential. Starburst amacrine cells have been viewed as a strong candidate for direction selectivity in ganglion cells because they can release both GABA and Ach. Their dendrites branch out radiantly from a soma, and there is a significant dendritic overlap. Optical measurements of Ca 2+ concentration showed that they respond strongly to the centrifugal motion (the outward motion from the soma to the dendrites), while they don't respond well to the centripetal motion (the inward motion from the dendritic tips to the soma). When the starburst cells were ablated with toxins, direction selectivity was eliminated. Moreover, their release of neurotransmitters itself, specifically calcium ions, reflect direction selectivity, which may be presumably attributed to the synaptic pattern. The branching pattern is organized such that certain presynaptic input will have more influence on a given dendrite than others, creating a polarity in excitation and inhibition. Further evidence suggests that starburst cells release inhibitory neurotransmitters, GABA onto each other in a delayed and prolonged manner. This accounts for the temporal property of inhibition.

When were directionally selective cells discovered?

The study of directionally selective units began with a discovery of such cells in the cerebral cortex of cats by David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel in 1959. Following the initial report, an attempt to understand the mechanism of directionally selective cells was pursued by Horace B. Barlow and William R. Levick in 1965. Their in-depth experiments in rabbit's retina expanded the anatomical and physiological understanding of the vertebrate visual system and ignited the interest in the field. Numerous studies that followed thereafter have unveiled the mechanism of motion sensing in vision for the most part. Alexander Borst and Thomas Euler 's 2011 review paper, "Seeing Things in Motion: Models, Circuits and Mechanisms". discusses certain important findings from the early discoveries to the recent work on the subject, coming to the conclusion of the current status of the knowledge.

What is apparent motion?

This is also termed " apparent motion " and is the basis of movies and television. However, at faster alternation rates, and if ...

How can we improve detection and discrimination of motion?

Detection and discrimination of motion can be improved by training with long-term results. Participants trained to detect the movements of dots on a screen in only one direction become particularly good at detecting small movements in the directions around that in which they have been trained. This improvement was still present 10 weeks later. However perceptual learning is highly specific. For example, the participants show no improvement when tested around other motion directions, or for other sorts of stimuli.

What is beta movement?

Example of Beta movement, often confused with phi phenomenon, in which a succession of still images gives the illusion of a moving ball. Two or more stimuli that are switched on and off in alternation can produce two different motion percepts. The first, demonstrated in the figure to the right is " Beta movement ", often used in billboard displays, ...

Overview

Motion perception is the process of inferring the speed and direction of elements in a scene based on visual, vestibular and proprioceptive inputs. Although this process appears straightforward to most observers, it has proven to be a difficult problem from a computational perspective, and difficult to explain in terms of neural processing.

Neuropsychology

The inability to perceive motion is called akinetopsia and it may be caused by a lesion to cortical area V5 in the extrastriate cortex. Neuropsychological studies of a patient who could not see motion, seeing the world in a series of static "frames" instead, suggested that visual area V5 in humans is homologous to motion processing area V5/MT in primates.

First-order motion perception

Two or more stimuli that are switched on and off in alternation can produce two different motion percepts. The first, demonstrated in the figure to the right is "Beta movement", often used in billboard displays, in which an object is perceived as moving when, in fact, a series of stationary images is being presented. This is also termed "apparent motion" and is the basis of movies and television. However, at faster alternation rates, and if the distance between the stimuli is just rig…

Second-order motion perception

Second-order motion is when the moving contour is defined by contrast, texture, flicker or some other quality that does not result in an increase in luminance or motion energy in the Fourier spectrum of the stimulus. There is much evidence to suggest that early processing of first- and second-order motion is carried out by separate pathways. Second-order mechanisms have poorer temporal resolution and are low-pass in terms of the range of spatial frequencies to which they re…

The aperture problem

The motion direction of a contour is ambiguous, because the motion component parallel to the line cannot be inferred based on the visual input. This means that a variety of contours of different orientations moving at different speeds can cause identical responses in a motion sensitive neuron in the visual system.
See MIT example

Motion integration

Some have speculated that, having extracted the hypothesized motion signals (first- or second-order) from the retinal image, the visual system must integrate those individual local motion signals at various parts of the visual field into a 2-dimensional or global representation of moving objects and surfaces. (It is not clear how this 2D representation is then converted into the perceived 3D percept) Further processing is required to detect coherent motion or "global motio…

Motion in depth

As in other aspects of vision, the observer's visual input is generally insufficient to determine the true nature of stimulus sources, in this case their velocity in the real world. In monocular vision for example, the visual input will be a 2D projection of a 3D scene. The motion cues present in the 2D projection will by default be insufficient to reconstruct the motion present in the 3D scene. Put differently, many 3D scenes will be compatible with a single 2D projection. The problem of motio…

Perceptual learning of motion

Detection and discrimination of motion can be improved by training with long-term results. Participants trained to detect the movements of dots on a screen in only one direction become particularly good at detecting small movements in the directions around that in which they have been trained. This improvement was still present 10 weeks later. However perceptual learning is highly specific. For example, the participants show no improvement when tested around other m…