PERCEPTION OF MOTION AND CHANGING FORM: <i>A study of visual perception from continuous transformations of a solid angle of light at the eye</i>

TLDR

The study seeks to explain how the visual system generates specific percepts from non‑specific changing stimuli and proposes preliminary principles for predicting perceived motion in depth from proximal changes. The authors use an analogue‑computer‑generated CRT display of artificial objects, projecting continuously changing solid angles of homogeneous light into the eye via an optical device. They find that changing projections provide no specific form or motion information, but a principle of perceptual three‑dimensionality supplies the specificity needed for percepts.

Abstract

It is shown how geometrically changing projections of objects which move and/or change their shape carry no specific information about form and three‐dimensional motion. How, then, does the visual apparatus produce specific percepts from such non‐specific changing stimuli? By applying an analogue computer technique, changing projections of artificial objects are generated on a CRT screen. These projections are fed into the eye by means of an optical device where they form a continuously changing solid angle of homogeneous light. The main conclusion is that it is a principle of perceptual three‐dimensionality which gives specificity to the percepts. Preliminary statements of principles for prediction of perceived motion in depth from a given change in proximal stimulus are presented.