Lines and dots: characteristics of the motion integration process

Local motion detectors can only provide the velocity component perpendicular to a moving line that crosses their receptive field, leading to an ambiguity known as the "aperture problem". This problem is solved exactly for rigid objects translating in the screen plane via the intersection of constraints (IOC). In natural scenes, however, object motions are not restricted to fronto-parallel translations, and several objects with distinct motions may be present in the visual space. Under these conditions the usual IOC construction is no longer valid, which raises questions as its use as a basis for spatial integration and selection of motion signals in uniform and non-uniform velocity fields. The influence of the motion of random dots on the perceived direction of a horizontal line grating was measured, when dots and lines are seen through different apertures. The random dots were mapped on a plane that translates in a fronto-parallel plane (uniform 2D translation) or in depth (3D, corresponding to a non-uniform projected velocity field, either expanding or contracting). The grating was either moving rigidly with the dots or in the opposite direction. Subjects' responses show that the direction of line grating movement was reliably influenced only in conditions consistent with rigid motion; where there was a reliable influence, the perceived direction was consistent with the dot motion pattern. This finding points to the existence of a motion-based selection mechanism that operates prior to the disambiguation of the line movement direction. Disambiguation could occur for both uniform and non-uniform velocity fields, even though in the last case none of the individual dots indicated the proper direction in 2D velocity space. Finally, the capture by non-uniform motion patterns was less robust than that by uniform 2D translations, and could be disrupted by manipulations of the shape and size of the apertures.