The infinite regress illusion reveals faulty integration of local and global motion signals.

Full Abstract

We report a new visual illusion, where a global shape appears to continually move away from fixation, even though it remains a fixed distance from fixation. The illusion occurs because local motion signals within the object indicate motion away from fixation, and are incorrectly attributed by the visual system to the motion trajectory of the global object. A simple weighted vector summation of global and local motion signals, while a reasonable first approximation, cannot fully account for our data. We show that the faster the local motion signal, the more it biases judgments of global motion direction. We propose that local and global motion signals are summed non-linearly for this stimulus because as local motion speed increases, moving luminance blobs are visible for less time, affording less time to inhibit inappropriate component motion signals. This effect reveals the degree to which the visual system can incorrectly combine local and global motion signals belonging to a single object.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Tse, P U (PU); Hsieh, P-J (PJ);

Affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Moore Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.

Grants: R03 MH0609660-01 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Vision research (Vision Res), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Oct; vol 46 (issue 22) : pp 3881-5

Dates: Created 2006/09/19; Completed 2007/01/18; Revised 2008/11/21;

PMID: 16879854, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.