Illusory Optic Flow Transformation with Binocular Vision

Perception ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 25 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 61-61
Author(s):  
A Grigo ◽  
M Lappe
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Stereoscopic Vision ◽  
Motion Pattern ◽  
Translational Movement ◽  
Eye Rotation ◽  
Self Motion ◽  
Nonsignificant Decrease

We investigated the influence of stereoscopic vision on the perception of optic flow fields in psychophysical experiments based on the effect of an illusory transformation found by Duffy and Wurtz (1993 Vision Research33 1481 – 1490). Human subjects are not able to determine the centre of an expanding optic flow field correctly if the expansion is transparently superimposed on a unidirectional motion pattern. Its location is rather perceived shifted in the direction of the translational movement. Duffy and Wurtz proposed that this illusory shift is caused by the visual system taking the presented flow pattern as a flow field composed of linear self-motion and an eye rotation. As a consequence, the centre of the expansional movement is determined by compensating for the simulated eye rotation, like determining one's direction of heading (Lappe and Rauschecker, 1994 Vision Research35 1619 – 1631). In our experiments we examined the dependence of the illusory transformation on differences in depth between the superimposed movements. We presented the expansional and translational stimuli with different relative binocular disparities. In the case of zero disparity, we could confirm the results of Duffy and Wurtz. For uncrossed disparities (ie translation behind expansion) we found a small and nonsignificant decrease of the illusory shift. In contrast, there was a strong decrease up to 80% in the case of crossed disparity (ie translation in front of expansion). These findings confirm the assumption that the motion pattern is interpreted as a self-motion flow field: only in the unrealistic case of a large rotational component present in front of an expansion are the superimposed movements interpreted separately by the visual system.

Optokinetic Eye Movements Elicited by Radial Optic Flow in the Macaque Monkey

1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 1461-1480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Lappe ◽  
Martin Pekel ◽  
Klaus-Peter Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Flow Fields ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Slow Phase ◽  
Eye Position ◽  
Self Motion

Lappe, Markus, Martin Pekel, and Klaus-Peter Hoffmann. Optokinetic eye movements elicited by radial optic flow in the macaque monkey. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 1461–1480, 1998. We recorded spontaneous eye movements elicited by radial optic flow in three macaque monkeys using the scleral search coil technique. Computer-generated stimuli simulated forward or backward motion of the monkey with respect to a number of small illuminated dots arranged on a virtual ground plane. We wanted to see whether optokinetic eye movements are induced by radial optic flow stimuli that simulate self-movement, quantify their parameters, and consider their effects on the processing of optic flow. A regular pattern of interchanging fast and slow eye movements with a frequency of 2 Hz was observed. When we shifted the horizontal position of the focus of expansion (FOE) during simulated forward motion (expansional optic flow), median horizontal eye position also shifted in the same direction but only by a smaller amount; for simulated backward motion (contractional optic flow), median eye position shifted in the opposite direction. We relate this to a change in Schlagfeld typically observed in optokinetic nystagmus. Direction and speed of slow phase eye movements were compared with the local flow field motion in gaze direction (the foveal flow). Eye movement direction matched well the foveal motion. Small systematic deviations could be attributed to an integration of the global motion pattern. Eye speed on average did not match foveal stimulus speed, as the median gain was only ∼0.5–0.6. The gain was always lower for expanding than for contracting stimuli. We analyzed the time course of the eye movement immediately after each saccade. We found remarkable differences in the initial development of gain and directional following for expansion and contraction. For expansion, directional following and gain were initially poor and strongly influenced by the ongoing eye movement before the saccade. This was not the case for contraction. These differences also can be linked to properties of the optokinetic system. We conclude that optokinetic eye movements can be elicited by radial optic flow fields simulating self-motion. These eye movements are linked to the parafoveal flow field, i.e., the motion in the direction of gaze. In the retinal projection of the optic flow, such eye movements superimpose retinal slip. This results in complex retinal motion patterns, especially because the gain of the eye movement is small and variable. This observation has special relevance for mechanisms that determine self-motion from retinal flow fields. It is necessary to consider the influence of eye movements in optic flow analysis, but our results suggest that direction and speed of an eye movement should be treated differently.

Do Migraineurs have Difficulty Judging Direction of Simulated Heading?

Cephalalgia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 949-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
AM McKendrick ◽  
A Turpin ◽  
S Webb ◽  
DR Badcock
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Global Motion ◽  
Motion Coherence ◽  
Coherent Optic ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Dot Motion ◽  
Self Motion

Some migraineurs have increased thresholds for the detection of global dot motion. We investigated whether migraineurs show consequential abnormalities in the determination of direction of self-motion (heading) from simulated optic flow. The ability to determine heading from optic flow is likely to be necessary for optimal determination of self-motion through the environment. Twenty-five migraineurs and 25 controls participated. Global dot motion coherence thresholds were assessed, in addition to performance on two simulated heading tasks: one with a symmetrical flow field, and the second with differing velocity of optic flow on the left and right sides of the participant. While some migraineurs demonstrated abnormal global motion coherence thresholds, there was no difference in performance on the heading tasks at either simulated walking (5 km/h) or driving (50 km/h) speeds. Increased global motion coherence thresholds in migraineurs do not result in abnormal judgements of heading from 100± coherent optic flow.

scholarly journals Heading perception depends on time-varying evolution of optic flow

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (52) ◽  
pp. 33161-33169
Author(s):  
Charlie S. Burlingham ◽  
David J. Heeger
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Temporal Derivative ◽  
Considerable Support ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Phase Motion

There is considerable support for the hypothesis that perception of heading in the presence of rotation is mediated by instantaneous optic flow. This hypothesis, however, has never been tested. We introduce a method, termed “nonvarying phase motion,” for generating a stimulus that conveys a single instantaneous optic flow field, even though the stimulus is presented for an extended period of time. In this experiment, observers viewed stimulus videos and performed a forced-choice heading discrimination task. For nonvarying phase motion, observers made large errors in heading judgments. This suggests that instantaneous optic flow is insufficient for heading perception in the presence of rotation. These errors were mostly eliminated when the velocity of phase motion was varied over time to convey the evolving sequence of optic flow fields corresponding to a particular heading. This demonstrates that heading perception in the presence of rotation relies on the time-varying evolution of optic flow. We hypothesize that the visual system accurately computes heading, despite rotation, based on optic acceleration, the temporal derivative of optic flow.

The optic flow field: the foundation of vision

1980 ◽  
Vol 290 (1038) ◽  
pp. 169-179 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Mathematical Analysis ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Behavioural Experiments ◽  
Optic Array ◽  
Activity Information

As a basis for understanding the visual system, we need to consider the functions that vision has to perform, which are pre-eminently in the service of activity, and the circumstances in which it normally operates, namely when the head is moving. The fundamental ecological stimulus for vision is not a camera-like time-frozen image but a constantly changing optic array or flow field, the description of which must be in spatio-temporal terms. A mathematical analysis of the optic flow field is presented, revealing the information that it affords for controlling activity - information both about the topography of the environment and about the movement of the organism relative to the environment. Results of human behavioural experiments are also reported. It is suggested that the optic flow field should be the starting point in attempting to discover the physiological workings of the visual system.

scholarly journals A Dynamic Bayesian Observer Model Reveals Origins of Bias in Visual Path Integration

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaushik J Lakshminarasimhan ◽  
Marina Petsalis ◽  
Hyeshin Park ◽  
Gregory C DeAngelis ◽  
Xaq Pitkow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optic Flow ◽  
Path Integration ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Signal Integration ◽  
Motion Velocity ◽  
Navigation Strategy ◽  
Prior Expectation ◽  
Leaky Integration ◽  
Observer Model ◽  
Self Motion

ABSTRACTPath integration is a navigation strategy by which animals track their position by integrating their self-motion velocity over time. To identify the computational origins of bias in visual path integration, we asked human subjects to navigate in a virtual environment using optic flow, and found that they generally travelled beyond the goal location. Such a behaviour could stem from leaky integration of unbiased self-motion velocity estimates, or from a prior expectation favouring slower speeds that causes underestimation of velocity. We tested both alternatives using a probabilistic framework that maximizes expected reward, and found that subjects’ biases were better explained by a slow-speed prior than imperfect integration. When subjects integrate paths over long periods, this framework intriguingly predicts a distance-dependent bias reversal due to build-up of uncertainty, which we also confirmed experimentally. These results suggest that visual path integration performance is limited largely by biases in processing optic flow rather than by suboptimal signal integration.

scholarly journals To keep on track during flight, fruitflies discount the skyward view

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 20131103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantell Mazo ◽  
Jamie C. Theobald
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Rotational Motion ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Translational Motion ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Flow Fields ◽  
Motion Pattern ◽  
Flying Insects ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Pattern Of Motion

When small flying insects go off their intended course, they use the resulting pattern of motion on their eye, or optic flow, to guide corrective steering. A change in heading generates a unique, rotational motion pattern and a change in position generates a translational motion pattern, and each produces corrective responses in the wingbeats. Any image in the flow field can signal rotation, but owing to parallax, only the images of nearby objects can signal translation. Insects that fly near the ground might therefore respond more strongly to translational optic flow that occurs beneath them, as the nearby ground will produce strong optic flow. In these experiments, rigidly tethered fruitflies steered in response to computer-generated flow fields. When correcting for unintended rotations, flies weight the motion in their upper and lower visual fields equally. However, when correcting for unintended translations, flies weight the motion in the lower visual fields more strongly. These results are consistent with the interpretation that fruitflies stabilize by attending to visual areas likely to contain the strongest signals during natural flight conditions.

scholarly journals Enhanced Optic Flow Speed Discrimination While Walking: Contextual Tuning of Visual Coding

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p5845 ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 1465-1475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank H Durgin ◽  
Krista Gigone
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Flow Speed ◽  
Visual Coding ◽  
Choice Procedure ◽  
Flow Speeds ◽  
Forced Choice Procedure ◽  
Speed Discrimination ◽  
Self Motion ◽  
Perceived Speed

We tested the hypothesis that long-term adaptation to the normal contingencies between walking and its multisensory consequences (including optic flow) leads to enhanced discrimination of appropriate visual speeds during self-motion. In experiments 1 (task 1) and 2 a two-interval forced-choice procedure was used to compare the perceived speed of a simulated visual flow field viewed while walking with the perceived speed of a flow field viewed while standing. Both experiments demonstrated subtractive reductions in apparent speed. In experiments 1 and 3 discrimination thresholds were measured for optic flow speed while walking and while standing. Consistent with the optimal-coding hypothesis, speed discrimination for visual speeds near walking speed was enhanced during walking. Reduced sensitivity was found for slower visual speeds. The multisensory context of walking alters the coding of optic flow in a way that enhances speed discrimination in the expected range of flow speeds.

scholarly journals Common causation and offset effects in human visual-inertial heading direction integration

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 1369-1379
Author(s):  
Raul Rodriguez ◽  
Benjamin T. Crane
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Random Order ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Heading Direction ◽  
Integrated Or ◽  
Self Motion

Movement direction can be determined from a combination of visual and inertial cues. Visual motion (optic flow) can represent self-motion through a fixed environment or environmental motion relative to an observer. Simultaneous visual and inertial heading cues present the question of whether the cues have a common cause (i.e., should be integrated) or whether they should be considered independent. This was studied in eight healthy human subjects who experienced 12 visual and inertial headings in the horizontal plane divided in 30° increments. The headings were estimated in two unisensory and six multisensory trial blocks. Each unisensory block included 72 stimulus presentations, while each multisensory block included 144 stimulus presentations, including every possible combination of visual and inertial headings in random order. After each multisensory stimulus, subjects reported their perception of visual and inertial headings as congruous (i.e., having common causation) or not. In the multisensory trial blocks, subjects also reported visual or inertial heading direction (3 trial blocks for each). For aligned visual-inertial headings, the rate of common causation was higher during alignment in cardinal than noncardinal directions. When visual and inertial stimuli were separated by 30°, the rate of reported common causation remained >50%, but it decreased to 15% or less for separation of ≥90°. The inertial heading was biased toward the visual heading by 11–20° for separations of 30–120°. Thus there was sensory integration even in conditions without reported common causation. The visual heading was minimally influenced by inertial direction. When trials with common causation perception were compared with those without, inertial heading perception had a stronger bias toward visual stimulus direction. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Optic flow ambiguously represents self-motion or environmental motion. When these are in different directions, it is uncertain whether these are integrated into a common perception or not. This study looks at that issue by determining whether the two modalities are consistent and by measuring their perceived directions to get a degree of influence. The visual stimulus can have significant influence on the inertial stimulus even when they are perceived as inconsistent.

scholarly journals Detecting moving objects in an optic flow field using direction- and speed-tuned operators

2014 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 14-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance S. Royden ◽  
Michael A. Holloway
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Moving Objects

scholarly journals The Responses of VIP Neurons Are Sufficiently Sensitive to Support Heading Judgments

2010 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 1865-1873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Kenneth H. Britten
Keyword(s):  
Optic Flow ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Roc Analysis ◽  
Operating Characteristic ◽  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Pursuit Eye Movements ◽  
Behavioral Thresholds ◽  
Heading Direction ◽  
Ventral Intraparietal Area ◽  
Self Motion

The ventral intraparietal area (VIP) of the macaque monkey is thought to be involved in judging heading direction based on optic flow. We recorded neuronal discharges in VIP while monkeys were performing a two-alternative, forced-choice heading discrimination task to relate quantitatively the activity of VIP neurons to monkeys' perceptual choices. Most VIP neurons were responsive to simulated heading stimuli and were tuned such that their responses changed across a range of forward trajectories. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, we found that most VIP neurons were less sensitive to small heading changes than was the monkey, although a minority of neurons were equally sensitive. Pursuit eye movements modestly yet significantly increased both neuronal and behavioral thresholds by approximately the same amount. Our results support the view that VIP activity is involved in self-motion judgments.

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