Absence of smooth motion perception in color vision

We have tested the behavioral evidence for a separation of the processing of color contrast from motion in the human visual system. Two different aspects of motion perception are examined; the identification of the direction of movement of a chromatic grating and the perception of smooth motion. The results show that color vision is at no great disadvantage in the identification of direction of movement, since this can be done at color contrasts quite close to detection threshold over a wide range of spatial and temporal frequencies. However, we find that subjects can identify direction without having the genuine perception of smooth motion. Smooth motion perception is revealed to be highly impaired since it is detected only at very high color contrasts and over a narrow range of spatial temporal conditions.