TY - JOUR
T1 - Heading perception depends on time-varying evolution of optic flow
AU - Burlingham, Charlie S.
AU - Heeger, David J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - There is considerable support for the hypothesis that perception of heading in the presence of rotation is mediated by instantaneous optic flow. This hypothesis, however, has never been tested. We introduce a method, termed “nonvarying phase motion,” for generating a stimulus that conveys a single instantaneous optic flow field, even though the stimulus is presented for an extended period of time. In this experiment, observers viewed stimulus videos and performed a forced-choice heading discrimination task. For nonvarying phase motion, observers made large errors in heading judgments. This suggests that instantaneous optic flow is insufficient for heading perception in the presence of rotation. These errors were mostly eliminated when the velocity of phase motion was varied over time to convey the evolving sequence of optic flow fields corresponding to a particular heading. This demonstrates that heading perception in the presence of rotation relies on the time-varying evolution of optic flow. We hypothesize that the visual system accurately computes heading, despite rotation, based on optic acceleration, the temporal derivative of optic flow.
AB - There is considerable support for the hypothesis that perception of heading in the presence of rotation is mediated by instantaneous optic flow. This hypothesis, however, has never been tested. We introduce a method, termed “nonvarying phase motion,” for generating a stimulus that conveys a single instantaneous optic flow field, even though the stimulus is presented for an extended period of time. In this experiment, observers viewed stimulus videos and performed a forced-choice heading discrimination task. For nonvarying phase motion, observers made large errors in heading judgments. This suggests that instantaneous optic flow is insufficient for heading perception in the presence of rotation. These errors were mostly eliminated when the velocity of phase motion was varied over time to convey the evolving sequence of optic flow fields corresponding to a particular heading. This demonstrates that heading perception in the presence of rotation relies on the time-varying evolution of optic flow. We hypothesize that the visual system accurately computes heading, despite rotation, based on optic acceleration, the temporal derivative of optic flow.
KW - Acceleration
KW - Ego-motion
KW - Heading
KW - Motion perception
KW - Optic flow
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U2 - 10.1073/PNAS.2022984117
DO - 10.1073/PNAS.2022984117
M3 - Article
C2 - 33328275
AN - SCOPUS:85099172611
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 117
SP - 33161
EP - 33169
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 52
ER -