The motion aftereffect: more than area V5/MT? Evidence from 15O-butanol PET studies

The motion aftereffect is a perceptual phenomenon which has been extensively investigated both psychologically and physiologically. Neuroimaging techniques have recently demonstrated that area V5/MT is activated during the perception of this illusion. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis if a more broadly distributed network of brain regions subserves the motion aftereffect. To identify the neuronal structures involved in the perception of the motion aftereffect, regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measurements with positron emission tomography were performed in six normal volunteers. Data were analysed using SPM96. The motion-sensitive visual areas including area V5/MT were activated in both hemispheres. Additionally, the lateral parietal cortex bilaterally, the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex and the left cerebellum showed significant increases in rCBF values during the experience of the waterfall illusion. In a further reference condition with identical attentional demand but no perception of a motion aftereffect elevated rCBF were found in these regions as well. In conclusion, our findings support the notion that the perceptual illusion of motion arises exclusively in the motion-sensitive visual area V5/MT. In addition, a more widespread network of brain regions including the prefrontal and parietal cortex is activated during the waterfall illusion which represents a non-motion aftereffect-specific subset of brain areas but is involved in more basic attentional processing and cognition.