scholarly journals Human visual motion perception shows hallmarks of Bayesian structural inference

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sichao Yang ◽  
Johannes Bill ◽  
Jan Drugowitsch ◽  
Samuel J. Gershman
Keyword(s):  
Motion Perception ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Probabilistic Reasoning ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Human Motion ◽  
Object Motion ◽  
Ideal Observer ◽  
Structure Identification ◽  
Structural Inference ◽  
Visual Motion Perception

AbstractMotion relations in visual scenes carry an abundance of behaviorally relevant information, but little is known about how humans identify the structure underlying a scene’s motion in the first place. We studied the computations governing human motion structure identification in two psychophysics experiments and found that perception of motion relations showed hallmarks of Bayesian structural inference. At the heart of our research lies a tractable task design that enabled us to reveal the signatures of probabilistic reasoning about latent structure. We found that a choice model based on the task’s Bayesian ideal observer accurately matched many facets of human structural inference, including task performance, perceptual error patterns, single-trial responses, participant-specific differences, and subjective decision confidence—especially, when motion scenes were ambiguous and when object motion was hierarchically nested within other moving reference frames. Our work can guide future neuroscience experiments to reveal the neural mechanisms underlying higher-level visual motion perception.

scholarly journals Human visual motion perception shows hallmarks of Bayesian structural inference

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sichao Yang ◽  
Johannes Bill ◽  
Jan Drugowitsch ◽  
Samuel J. Gershman
Keyword(s):  
Motion Perception ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Ideal Observer ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Structural Inference ◽  
Visual Motion Perception ◽  
Decision Confidence ◽  
Motion Structure

AbstractMotion relations in visual scenes carry an abundance of behaviorally relevant information, but little is known about the computations underlying the identification of visual motion structure by humans. We addressed this gap in two psychophysics experiments and found that participants identified hierarchically organized motion relations in close correspondence with Bayesian structural inference. We demonstrate that, for our tasks, a choice model based on the Bayesian ideal observer can accurately match many facets of human structural inference, including task performance, perceptual error patterns, single-trial responses, participant-specific differences, and subjective decision confidence, particularly when motion scenes are ambiguous. Our work can guide future neuroscience experiments to reveal the neural mechanisms underlying higher-level visual motion perception.

Contrast and Assimilation in Motion Perception and Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements

2007 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 1355-1363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Spering ◽  
Karl R. Gegenfurtner
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Motion Perception ◽  
Smooth Pursuit ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Human Motion ◽  
Object Motion ◽  
Velocity Estimation ◽  
Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements ◽  
Pursuit Eye Movements ◽  
Perceived Velocity

The analysis of visual motion serves many different functions ranging from object motion perception to the control of self-motion. The perception of visual motion and the oculomotor tracking of a moving object are known to be closely related and are assumed to be controlled by shared brain areas. We compared perceived velocity and the velocity of smooth pursuit eye movements in human observers in a paradigm that required the segmentation of target object motion from context motion. In each trial, a pursuit target and a visual context were independently perturbed simultaneously to briefly increase or decrease in speed. Observers had to accurately track the target and estimate target speed during the perturbation interval. Here we show that the same motion signals are processed in fundamentally different ways for perception and steady-state smooth pursuit eye movements. For the computation of perceived velocity, motion of the context was subtracted from target motion (motion contrast), whereas pursuit velocity was determined by the motion average (motion assimilation). We conclude that the human motion system uses these computations to optimally accomplish different functions: image segmentation for object motion perception and velocity estimation for the control of smooth pursuit eye movements.

Role of the Vermal Cerebellum in Visually Guided Eye Movements and Visual Motion Perception

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Thier ◽  
Akshay Markanday
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Motion Perception ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Cerebellar Nuclei ◽  
Visually Guided ◽  
Past Performance ◽  
Visual Motion Perception ◽  
Oculomotor Vermis ◽  
Retinal Information

The cerebellar cortex is a crystal-like structure consisting of an almost endless repetition of a canonical microcircuit that applies the same computational principle to different inputs. The output of this transformation is broadcasted to extracerebellar structures by way of the deep cerebellar nuclei. Visually guided eye movements are accommodated by different parts of the cerebellum. This review primarily discusses the role of the oculomotor part of the vermal cerebellum [the oculomotor vermis (OMV)] in the control of visually guided saccades and smooth-pursuit eye movements. Both types of eye movements require the mapping of retinal information onto motor vectors, a transformation that is optimized by the OMV, considering information on past performance. Unlike the role of the OMV in the guidance of eye movements, the contribution of the adjoining vermal cortex to visual motion perception is nonmotor and involves a cerebellar influence on information processing in the cerebral cortex.

scholarly journals Inversion of Perceived Direction of Motion Caused by Spatial Undersampling in Two Children with Periventricular Leukomalacia

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1094-1106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Concetta Morrone ◽  
Andrea Guzzetta ◽  
Francesca Tinelli ◽  
Michela Tosetti ◽  
Michela Del Viva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motion Perception ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Periventricular Leukomalacia ◽  
Translational Motion ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Strong Response ◽  
Visual Motion Perception ◽  
Spatial Frequencies ◽  
Random Dot Patterns

We report here two cases of two young diplegic patients with cystic periventricular leukomalacia who systematically, and with high sensitivity, perceive translational motion of a random-dot display in the opposite direction. The apparent inversion was specific for translation motion: Rotation and expansion motion were perceived correctly, with normal sensitivity. It was also specific for random-dot patterns, not occurring with gratings. For the one patient that we were able to test extensively, contrast sensitivity for static stimuli was normal, but was very low for direction discrimination at high spatial frequencies and all temporal frequencies. His optokinetic nystagmus movements were normal but he was unable to track a single translating target, indicating a perceptual origin of the tracking deficit. The severe deficit for motion perception was also evident in the seminatural situation of a driving simulation video game. The perceptual deficit for translational motion was reinforced by functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Translational motion elicited no response in the MT complex, although it did produce a strong response in many visual areas when contrasted with blank stimuli. However, radial and rotational motion produced a normal pattern of activation in a subregion of the MT complex. These data reinforce the existent evidence for independent cortical processing for translational, and circular or radial flow motion, and further suggest that the two systems have different vulnerability and plasticity to prenatal damage. They also highlight the complexity of visual motion perception, and how the delicate balance of neural activity can lead to paradoxical effects such as consistent misperception of the direction of motion. We advance a possible explanation of a reduced spatial sampling of the motion stimuli and report a simple model that simulates well the experimental results.

scholarly journals Influence of Active Manipulation of an Object on Visual Motion Perception

i-Perception ◽  
10.1068/ic884 ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (8) ◽  
pp. 884-884
Author(s):  
Kazumichi Matsumiya ◽  
Satoshi Shioiri
Keyword(s):  
Motion Perception ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Visual Motion Perception
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