Studies on Visual Perception of Locomotion

TLDR

The study investigates how visual cues distinguish object motion from self‑motion perception. Researchers presented vertical motion to peripheral retinal zones while the central retina saw a static room, varying the size and location of the motion‑stimulated area. Peripheral motion over a small retinal area caused subjects to feel they were moving in an elevator, whereas central motion produced object‑motion perception, highlighting the dominance of peripheral cues in locomotion perception.

Abstract

The problem about visual discrimination between seeing objects in motion and perception of motion of the perceiver (locomotion) was taken up. A flow of vertical motion was presented to limited areas of the far periphery (45°–90°) of the retina simultaneously with optical information about a stationary room over the rest of the retina. The result was that most subjects perceived themselves as sitting in an elevator continuously moving upward or downward. Thus, peripheral motion stimulation over a few percent of the retinal area determines locomotion perception in apparent competition with information about a static state over the rest of the retina. The same type of stimulus presented to the central part of the retina always brought about perception of object motion and a static perceiver. Effects of size and localization of the area stimulated with the motion flow was studied. Theoretical consequences and problems for further experimental analyses are discussed.