Abstract
Our tendency to constantly shift our gaze and to pursue moving objects with our eyes introduces obvious problems for judging objects' velocities. The present study examines how we deal with these problems. Specifically, we examined when information on rotations (such as eye movements) is obtained from retinal, and when from extra-retinal sources. Subjects were presented with a target moving across a textured background. Moving the background allowed us to manipulate the retinal information on rotation independently of the extra-retinal information. The subjects were instructed to pursue the target with their eyes. At some time during the presentation the target's velocity could change. We determined how various factors influence a subject's perception of such changes in velocity. Under more or less natural conditions, there was no change in perceived target velocity as long as the relative motion between target and background was maintained. However, experiments using conditions that are less likely to occur outside the laboratory reveal how extra-retinal signals are involved in velocity judgements.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allman J, Miezin F, McGuinness E (1985) Direction- and velocity- specific responses from beyond the classical receptive field in the middle temporal visual area. Perception 14:105–126
Berg AV van den, Collewijn H (1986) Human smooth pursuit: effects of stimulus extent and of spatial and temporal constraints of the pursuit trajectory. Vision Res 26:1209–1222
Brenner E (1991) Judging object motion during smooth pursuit eye movements: the role of optic flow. Vision Res 31:1893–1902
Brenner E (1993) Judging an object's velocity when its distance changes due to ego-motion. Vision Res 33:487–504
Carl JR, Gellman RS (1987) Human smooth pursuit: stimulus-dependent responses. J Neurophysiol 57:1446–1463
Collewijn H, Tamminga EP (1984) Human smooth and saccadic eye movements during voluntary pursuit of different target motions on different backgrounds. J Physiol 351:217–250
Dichgans J, Körner F, Voigt K (1969) Vergleichende Skalierung des afferenten und efferenten Bewegungssehens beim Menschen: lineare Funktionen mit verschiedener Anstiegssteilheit. Psychol Forsch 32:277–295
Dodge R (1904) The participation of the eye movements in the visual perception of motion. Psychol Rev 11:1–14
Duhamel J-R, Colby CL, Goldberg ME (1992) The updating of the representation of visual space in parietal cortex by intended eye movements. Science 255:90–92
Duncker K (1929) Über induzierte Bewegung. Psychol Forsch 12:180–259
Festinger L, Sedgwick HA, Holtzman JD (1976) Visual perception during smooth pursuit eye movements. Vision Res 16:1377–1386
Galletti C, Battaglini PP, Fattori P (1990) ‘Real-motion’ cells in area V3A of macaque visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 82:67–76
Heckmann T, Post RB, Deering L (1991) Induced motion of a fixated target: influence of voluntary eye deviation. Percept Psychophys 50:230–236
Kowler E, Van der Steen J, Tamminga EP, Collewijn H (1984) Voluntary selection of the target for smooth eye movement in the presence of superimposed, full-field stationary and moving stimuli. Vision Res 24:1789–1798
Mack A (1986) Perceptual aspects of motion in the frontal plane. In: Boff KR, Kaufman L, Thomas JP (eds) Handbook of perception and human performance, vol 1, Sensory processes and perception, Wiley-Interscience, New York, Chap 17 pp 1–38
Mack A, Herman E (1978) The loss of position constancy during pursuit eye movements. Vision Res 18:55–62
Mack A, Fendrich R, Pleune J (1979) Smooth pursuit eye movements: is perceived motion necessary? Science 203:1361–1363
Matin L (1986) Visual localization and eye movements. In: Boff KR, Kaufman L, Thomas JP (eds) Handbook of perception and human performance, vol 1, Sensory processes and perception, Wiley-Interscience, New York, Chap 20 pp 1–45
Probst T, Brandt T, Degner D (1986) Object-motion detection affected by concurrent self-motion perception: psychophysics of a new phenomenon. Behav Brain Res 22:1–11
Raymond JE, Shapiro KL, Rose DJ (1984) Optokinetic backgrounds affect perceived velocity during ocular tracking. Percept Psychophys 36:221–224
Rock I, Auster M, Schiffman M, Wheeler D (1980) Induced movement based on subtraction of motion from the inducing object. J Exp Psychol: Human Percept Performance 6:391–403
Stoper AE (1973) Apparent motion of stimuli presented stroboscopically during pursuit movement of the eye. Percept Psychophys 13:201–211
Von Holst E, Mittelstaedt H (1950) Das Reafferenzprinzip (Wechselwirkungen zwischen Zentralnervensystem und Peripherie). Naturwissenschaften 20:464–476
Wallach H (1959) The perception of motion. Sci Am 201:56–60
Wertheim AH (1990) Visual, vestibular and oculomotor interactions in the perception of object motion during ego motion. In: Warren R, Wertheim AH (eds) Perception and Control of Selfmotion. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp 171–217
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brenner, E., van den Berg, A.V. Judging object velocity during smooth pursuit eye movements. Exp Brain Res 99, 316–324 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00239598
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00239598