Sensitivity to spatial and temporal modulations of first-order and second-order motion
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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

MPI CyberMotion Simulator: Implementation of a Novel Motion Simulator to Investigate Multisensory Path Integration in Three Dimensions
Published on: May 10, 2012
Claire V Hutchinson1, Timothy Ledgeway
1School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. lpxcvh@psychology.nottingham.ac.uk
Abstract:
This study characterises the spatiotemporal "window of visibility" for first-order motion (luminance-modulated noise) and three varieties of second-order motion (contrast-modulated, polarity-modulated and spatial length-modulated noise). Direction-identification thresholds (minimum modulation depth producing 79.4% correct) were measured for each motion pattern (acuity permitting) over a five octave range of spatial and temporal frequencies (0.5-16 c/deg and 0.5-16 Hz respectively). Thresholds were converted into modulation sensitivity (1/threshold). For first-order motion patterns, sensitivity functions were generally bandpass. However, for second-order motion patterns, functions were predominantly lowpass in nature. In particular, the functions corresponding to contrast-modulated and polarity-modulated noise were virtually identical in terms of shape and sensitivity. However, sensitivity to modulations of spatial length was extremely poor and more lowpass, suggesting that additional strategies, perhaps a feature-based system, may be required for encoding motion of images of this type.
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