Motion capture anisotropy

Two uncorrelated random dot patterns were superimposed and alternated to produce dynamic incoherent noise. When a low spatial frequency sine wave grating was optically superimposed on this noise and moved in step with the alternation of the two frames, the incoherent motion was masked and all the dots were seen to adhere to the grating and to move with it as a single rigid sheet ("Motion Capture"). Over a wide range of displacements subjects could not discriminate uncorrelated noise which was "captured" from correlated noise patterns which moved physically in the same direction as the grating. In fact the motion signal from the low frequency grating was even strong enough to overcome signals from two correlated random dot patterns which moved in the opposite direction. Capture was not as strong if the direction of dot motion was orthogonal to the direction of grating motion. We conclude that in any dynamic visual scene the motion of certain salient features in the image tends to dominate our perceptual experience. The signal from low frequencies masks or inhibits the signal from the high frequencies. Since the latter now have no motion signal of their own they are assumed to move with the low frequencies. Thus, motion capture suggests an important biological role for long-range apparent motion: the process serves to preserve continuity of object identity while at the same time eliminating spurious motion signals that arise from finer image features. In this manner the visual system solves the "correspondence problem" without benefit from either computation or cognition.