Motion Sensing
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Elsevier - Publisher Connector Vision Research 39 (1999) 3329–3345 www.elsevier.com/locate/visres Section 2 Minireview Stereoscopic (cyclopean) motion sensing Robert Patterson * Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Washington State Uni6ersity, Pullman, WA 99164-4820, USA Received 22 July 1998; received in revised form 29 January 1999 Abstract This paper reviews literature on the motion processing of dynamic change in binocular disparity, called stereoscopic (cyclopean) motion. Studies investigating the visual processing of stereoscopic motion in the Z-axis, stereoscopic motion in the X/Y plane, and cyclopean motion are discussed. It is concluded that stereoscopic motion is processed by a motion-sensing system composed of special-purpose mechanisms that function like low-level motion sensors. For animals with binocular vision, low-level motion processing may involve, at least in part, stereoscopic processing. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Motion perception; Motion pathways; Stereoscopic; Cyclopean 1. Introduction whether dynamic change in disparity is processed by an actual motion-sensing system. The ability to detect the motion of an object moving This paper reviews the literature on the motion pro- through three-dimensional space has important survival cessing of dynamic change in binocular disparity, called value for an animal. Motion processing provides infor- stereoscopic motion. Stereoscopic motion processing is mation for proprioception, detection of pattern, esti- an interesting topic because it involves motion informa- mating time-to-collision, and segmentation of surfaces tion at cyclopean (i.e. binocular-integration) levels of (Nakayama, 1985). For an animal with binocular vision vision (see Sherrington, 1906; Julesz, 1960, 1971). such as a human observer (see Fox, 1978), motion Stereoscopic motion processing would demonstrate a processing may involve stereopsis. binocular substrate for a portion of the motion system Consider an object moving in front of a background because this kind of motion would be computed subse- and on a given trajectory in three-dimensional space. quent to the computation of binocular disparity To an observer with stereopsis, one binocular cue to (Sekuler, 1975; Patterson, Ricker, McGary & Rose, object movement would be information about dynamic 1992). change in the relative binocular disparity between ob- In this paper, the term stereoscopic motion refers to ject and background. For example, an object moving the movement of binocular disparity information, through the Z-axis and toward the observer’s head which should be distinguished from the movement of would produce an increase in the magnitude of relative luminance boundaries presented with binocular dispar- disparity. An object moving laterally across the observ- ity. With respect to the latter, a number of studies (e.g. er’s visual field would produce dynamic change (i.e. Mezrich & Rose, 1977; Erkelens & Collewijn, 1985; displacement) in the lateral direction of the relative Nawrot & Blake, 1989; Halpern, 1991; Lappin & Love, disparity without a change in mean disparity. One 1992; Johnston, Cumming & Landy, 1994; Verstraten, important issue for theories of motion processing is Verlinde, Fredericksen & van de Grind, 1994; Bradley, Qian & Andersen, 1995; Qian & Andersen, 1997; Lankheet & Palmen, 1998) examined the interaction * Fax: +1-509-3355043. between luminance motion processing and stereoscopic E-mail address: [email protected] (R. Patterson) processing. Consider the following examples. Nawrot 0042-6989/99/$ - see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0042-6989(99)00047-4 3330 R. Patterson / Vision Research 39 (1999) 3329–3345 and Blake (1989) found that adaptation to stereoscopic may help select features for subsequent processing (Lu depth influenced the perception of structure from (lumi- & Sperling, 1995a,b) or it may generate higher-order nance) motion. Johnston et al. (1994) suggested that motion signals itself (Cavanagh, 1992, 1995). Position luminance motion information may overcome the tracking mechanisms show lowpass temporal-frequency stereopsis distance-scaling problem. Erkelens and tuning (Nakayama & Tyler, 1981). Collewijn (1985) revealed that a visual frame of refer- Many studies investigating stereoscopic motion pro- ence was necessary for the perception of motion in cessing have used dynamic random-dot stereograms depth but not for lateral motion. Lankheet and Palmen (Julesz, 1971) to isolate mechanisms devoted to stereop- (1998) found that luminance motion contrast improved sis. In this type of display, each eye’s view typically sensitivity for stereoscopic depth segregation. Finally, consists of an array of many small randomly-positioned Qian and Andersen (1997) provided a physiologic luminance dots. Binocular disparity is created between model of luminance motion-stereopsis integration the two eyes’ views by shifting laterally a subset of dots within the context of the Pulfrich phenomenon. Al- in one eye’s view and leaving unshifted corresponding though interesting, these studies will not be discussed dots in the other eye’s view (the shift is camouflaged by further because they involved luminance motion (i.e. surrounding dots). The shape defined by the shifted non-cyclopean motion containing monocular cues) dots creates a stereoscopic (cyclopean) form that is which is different from stereoscopic motion (i.e. cy- defined by differences in binocular disparity that cannot clopean motion containing no monocular cues). be seen monocularly. To study stereoscopic motion Nonetheless, these studies are generally consistent with processing, the stereoscopic form is moved and the the main theme of the present paper by showing inter- observer makes a perceptual judgment about the move- action between motion processing and stereoscopic ment. To camouflage monocular cues associated with processing. the stereoscopic motion, the luminance dot arrays are This review covers research on the visual processing dynamic (i.e. dots replotted randomly across frames of the motion sequence). In this kind of study, the issue of of stereoscopic motion in the Z-axis (i.e. saggital direc- motion sensing versus position tracking applies to the tion normal to the frontal or X/Y plane), stereoscopic moving stereoscopic form and not to the dynamic motion in the X/Y or frontal plane, and cyclopean luminance dots. motion, in order to discover whether and how stereo- The generation of dynamic random-dot stereograms scopic motion may be processed by a motion-sensing is technically challenging because dot arrays containing system. This review also discusses the possible neuro- a large number of elements are generated, displayed physiological basis of stereoscopic motion processing. and updated continuously in both eyes of an observer Before turning to these topics, however, this review with the appropriate amount of disparity implemented. begins by considering whether stereoscopic motion is One method for generating dynamic random-dot processed by an actual motion-sensing system. stereograms is to employ a digital computer that gener- ates the dot arrays off-line, stores them in memory, and 6 1.1. Motion sensing ersus position tracking later presents them to an observer during an experi- ment. A second method is to develop a special-purpose A controversy exists as to whether stereoscopic mo- analog computer that generates and displays the dot tion is processed by a true motion-sensing system or by arrays in real time. A third method is to create a hybrid a position-tracking mechanism. Motion sensing in- system that employs an analog computer that generates volves computing the spatial displacement of an ob- and displays the dot arrays in real time and a digital ject’s boundaries per unit of time. One common model computer for controlling the disparity embedded in the for a motion sensor is a Reichardt detector (Reichardt, dot arrays. In any of these cases, it is important to 1961) which possesses two spatially-separated regions ensure that the stereograms are devoid of monocular of a receptive field that are activated in sequence by a cues which could arise from visible cross-talk between moving boundary. Signals from one region are delayed the eyes (i.e. left eye’s information leaking into the right and integrated with signals from the other region, creat- eye or vice versa) or from non-linearities in screen ing a local motion signal. A Reichardt detector is luminance. equivalent to a motion-energy sensor which is based Consider now the evidence for whether stereoscopic upon the processing of spatial and temporal frequency motion is processed by a motion-sensing system or by a (Watson & Ahumada, 1983; van Santen & Sperling, position-tracking mechanism. We begin with position 1984, 1985; Adelson & Bergen, 1985). Motion sensors tracking. show bandpass temporal-frequency tuning (Nakayama & Tyler, 1981). Position tracking involves computing or 1.2. E6idence for stereoscopic position tracking inferring motion by comparing the current position of the features of a stimulus with their previous position Evidence that stereoscopic motion is processed by a and noting the positional change. Position tracking position-tracking mechanism comes from studies that R. Patterson / Vision Research 39 (1999) 3329–3345 3331 have failed to find evidence for stereoscopic motion the stereoscopic stimulus