Paradoxical perception of shape in motion displays A Zharikova1, S Gepshtein2, C van Leeuwen3 |
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1Perceptual dynamics laboratory, KU Leuven, Belgium |
| We used ambiguous motion displays in which several motion quartets (Ramachandran & Antsis, 1983, Nature, 304:11, 529-531) were arranged on an invisible circular contour. The displays could be perceived either as “element motion” of dots within the quartets or as “object motion” of dots between the quartets that invoked perception of a large moving object. We asked if shortening the distances within the motion quartets would resolve the ambiguity in favor of element or object motion. From the Gestalt principle of proximity we expected a shift towards element motion, but characteristics of human spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity (Gepshtein & Kubovy, 2007, Journal of Vision 7(8):9, 1-15) predicted a shift towards object motion. The results were consistent with the latter prediction: reducing the distances within the quartets made the object motion increasingly likely. Thus conditions for perception of objects in dynamic scenes agree with characteristics of human spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity and disagree with the Gestalt principle of proximity. The work was supported by Odysseus research grant awarded to CvL from the Flemish Organization for Science, and National Science Foundation award 1027259 to SG. |
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