Study Questions: Motion Perception
1. Describe the properties of a moving stimulus in the space-time
diagram? Again with reference to that diagram, how would one
build a detector selective for leftward motion at a particular speed?.
2. What is the motion aftereffect? How would you explain such an
effect? Briefly discuss psychophysical and physiological evidence that
indicates the location of the direction-specific motion detectors.
3. What is the aperture problem? How much can the visual system
learn about the speed and direction (i.e., velocity) of motion from a
single, straight image contour? How might it combine the information
from two different contours (of differing orientations) to further
specify motion velocity?
4. How does motion perception take into account smooth pursuit
eye movements? Where does the signal come from that is used to estimate
the eye movement? How do we know that?
5. What is the "autokinetic effect"? Why does this effect
occur?.[Optional: only if covered in class.]
6. What is "stroboscopic" or "apparent" motion? Briefly discuss
the stimulus parameters (e.g., spatial distance, blank interval,
stimulus strength) that affect the illusion of stroboscopic movement.
7. Discuss the difference between real and apparent motion in
human vision, and how a theory of motion detection could account for
some aspects of both phenomena.
8. Briefly discuss how the context affects the perception of
motion. [Optional: only if covered in class.]