Directional anisotropy of motion sensitivity across the visual field

There is an implicit assumption in most models of movement direction perception that sensitivity to motion is directionally isotropic, i.e. equal for movement in all directions. However, most previous research on directional effects on human motion perception have measured responses (e.g. manual reaction times) to suprathreshold stimuli rather than motion sensitivity. I investigated this possibility by measuring monocular sensitivity to motion coherence in small field random-dot kinematograms with global leftwards or rightwards motion as a function of eccentricity along the horizontal meridian in each eye of six observers. Although foveal motion sensitivity was isotropic, small but significant differences (about 0.1 log units) in sensitivity in favour of centripetal motion were observed at eccentricities between 5.0 and 12.5 deg. Motion anisotropy was significantly larger in the temporal than the nasal visual hemifield. In a second experiment, motion coherence thresholds for upwards and downwards movement were measured foveally and at +/- 5 deg on the vertical meridian. At the fovea, no difference in sensitivity to upwards vs downwards motion was observed but these vertical axis thresholds were significantly higher than foveal thresholds for movement along the horizontal axis. Directional anisotropy in favour of centripetal motion was present in the inferior visual field but directional isotropy was found for the superior visual field. Perhaps this generally heightened sensitivity to centripetal directions may function normally to facilitate figure/ground segmentation in the presence of centrifugally-moving background contours that typically accompany forward locomotion.