Modulating Subjective Timing through Looming and Receding Biological Motion

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 221-238
Author(s):  
Helena Sgouramani ◽  
Ioannis Chatziioannou ◽  
Argiro Vatakis
Keyword(s):  
Biological Motion ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Incongruent Condition ◽  
Human Movement ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Sound Stimulation ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Perceptual Asymmetry ◽  
Temporal Domain

Our timing estimates are often prone to distortions from non-temporal attributes such as the direction of motion. Motion direction has been reported to lead to interval dilation when the movement is toward (i.e., looming) as compared to away from the viewer (i.e., receding). This perceptual asymmetry has been interpreted based on the contextual salience and prioritization of looming stimuli that allows for timely reactions to approaching objects. This asymmetry has mainly been studied through abstract stimulation with minimal social relevance. Focusing on the latter, we utilized naturalistic displays of biological motion and examined the aforementioned perceptual asymmetry in the temporal domain. In Experiment 1, we tested visual looming and receding human movement at various intervals in a reproduction task and found no differences in the participants’ timing estimates as a function of motion direction. Given the superiority of audition in timing, in Experiment 2, we combined the looming and receding visual stimulation with sound stimulation of congruent, incongruent, or no direction information. The analysis showed an overestimation of the looming as compared to the receding visual stimulation when the sound presented was of congruent or no direction, while no such difference was noted for the incongruent condition. Both looming and receding conditions (congruent and control) led to underestimations as compared to the physical durations tested. Thus, the asymmetry obtained could be attributed to the potential perceptual negligibility of the receding stimuli instead of the often-reported salience of looming motion. The results are also discussed in terms of the optimality of sound in the temporal domain.

scholarly journals Inverting the Facing-the-Viewer Bias for Biological Motion Stimuli

i-Perception ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 204166951775017
Author(s):  
Séamas Weech ◽  
Nikolaus F. Troje
Keyword(s):  
Biological Motion ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Shape Information ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Stick Figure ◽  
Visual Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Point Light ◽  
Ambiguous Point

Depth-ambiguous point-light walkers are most frequently seen as facing-the-viewer (FTV). It has been argued that the FTV bias depends on recognising the stimulus as a person. Accordingly, reducing the social relevance of biological motion by presenting stimuli upside down has been shown to reduce FTV bias. Here, we replicated the experiment that reported this finding and added stick figure walkers to the task in order to assess the effect of explicit shape information on facing bias for inverted figures. We measured the FTV bias for upright and inverted stick figure walkers and point-light walkers presented in different azimuth orientations. Inversion of the stimuli did not reduce facing direction judgements to chance levels. In fact, we observed a significant facing away bias in the inverted stimulus conditions. In addition, we found no difference in the pattern of data between stick figure and point-light walkers. Although the results are broadly consistent with previous findings, we do not conclude that inverting biological motion simply negates the FTV bias; rather, inversion causes stimuli to be seen facing away from the viewer more often than not. The results support the interpretation that primarily low-level visual processes are responsible for the biases produced by both upright and inverted stimuli.

scholarly journals Task-specific, dimension-based attentional shaping of motion processing in monkey area MT

2017 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 1542-1555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Schledde ◽  
F. Orlando Galashan ◽  
Magdalena Przybyla ◽  
Andreas K. Kreiter ◽  
Detlef Wegener
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Color Change ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Area Mt ◽  
Baseline Activity ◽  
Specific Dimension ◽  
Feature Dimension

Nonspatially selective attention is based on the notion that specific features or objects in the visual environment are effectively prioritized in cortical visual processing. Feature-based attention (FBA), in particular, is a well-studied process that dynamically and selectively addresses neurons preferentially processing the attended feature attribute (e.g., leftward motion). In everyday life, however, behavior may require high sensitivity for an entire feature dimension (e.g., motion), but experimental evidence for a feature dimension-specific attentional modulation on a cellular level is lacking. Therefore, we investigated neuronal activity in macaque motion-selective mediotemporal area (MT) in an experimental setting requiring the monkeys to detect either a motion change or a color change. We hypothesized that neural activity in MT is enhanced when the task requires perceptual sensitivity to motion. In line with this, we found that mean firing rates were higher in the motion task and that response variability and latency were lower compared with values in the color task, despite identical visual stimulation. This task-specific, dimension-based modulation of motion processing emerged already in the absence of visual input, was independent of the relation between the attended and stimulating motion direction, and was accompanied by a spatially global reduction of neuronal variability. The results provide single-cell support for the hypothesis of a feature dimension-specific top-down signal emphasizing the processing of an entire feature class. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Cortical processing serving visual perception prioritizes information according to current task requirements. We provide evidence in favor of a dimension-based attentional mechanism addressing all neurons that process visual information in the task-relevant feature domain. Behavioral tasks required monkeys to attend either color or motion, causing modulations of response strength, variability, latency, and baseline activity of motion-selective monkey area MT neurons irrespective of the attended motion direction but specific to the attended feature dimension.

Interference effect of observed human movement on action is due to velocity profile of biological motion

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 158-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Kilner ◽  
Antonia F. de C. Hamilton ◽  
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Keyword(s):  
Velocity Profile ◽  
Interference Effect ◽  
Biological Motion ◽  
Human Movement

scholarly journals Differences in perceived duration between plausible biological and non-biological stimuli

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliana Martinatti Giorjiani ◽  
Claudinei Eduardo Biazoli ◽  
Marcelo S. Caetano
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Biological Motion ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Frame Rate ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Neurophysiological Data ◽  
Perception Of Time

AbstractVisual motion stimuli can sometimes distort our perception of time. This effect is dependent on the apparent speed of the moving stimulus, where faster stimuli are usually perceived lasting longer than slower stimuli. Although it has been shown that neural and cognitive processing of biological motion stimuli differ from non-biological motion stimuli, no study has yet investigated whether perceived durations of biological stimuli differ from non-biological stimuli across different speeds. Here, a prospective temporal reproduction task was used to assess that question. Biological motion stimuli consisted in a human silhouette running in place. Non-biological motion stimuli consisted in a rectangle moving in a pendular way. Amount and plausibility of movement for each stimulus and frame-rate (speed) were evaluated by an independent group of participants. Although amount of movement was positively correlated to frame rate, movie clips involving biological motion stimuli were judged to last longer than non-biological motion stimuli only at frame rates in which movement was rated as plausible. These results suggest that plausible representations of biomechanical movement induce additional temporal distortions to those modulated by increases in stimulus speed. Moreover, most studies that have reported neural and cognitive differences in the processing of biological and non-biological motion stimuli acquired neurophysiological data using fMRI. The present study aimed additionally to report differences in the processing of biological and non-biological motion stimuli across different speeds using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a less costly and portable form of neurophysiological data acquisition.

Response of Male Goby, Padogobius Martensii, To Aggressive Sound Playback Following Pre-Experimental Visual Stimulation

Behaviour ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 134 (15-16) ◽  
pp. 1175-1188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Lugli
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Sound Stimulation ◽  
Resident Male ◽  
Approach Response ◽  
The Third ◽  
Functional Implications ◽  
Mirror Site ◽  
Freshwater Goby

AbstractThree playback experiments with a freshwater goby, Padogobius martensii, examined the effects of recent aggressive experience on the response of the territorial fish to the aggressive sound alone. Experiments 1 and 2 were conducted on a first group of fifteen resident males (i.e. males individually housed within laboratory tanks for at least 5 days). Experiment 1 simply consisted of playing back the sound to the resident male not exposed to social stimulation for at least 48 h. In experiment 2 the same male was exposed to its mirror image before the start of playback. Results showed that in experiment 1 males ignored or even tended to avoid the site of sound stimulation, whereas in experiment 2 they attended the sound site more frequently during the sound playback. In both experiments the mirror and the loudspeaker were placed on the same side of the tank. The third playback experiment was therefore developed to include mirror and loudspeaker on opposite sides of the tank. A different group of sixteen males was used for these experiments. Results showed that the sound playback may be more important than the mirror site in directing the approach response of the male. Furthermore, the magnitude of sound interference was positively correlated with the level of mirror aggressiveness shown by the male before playback. Functional implications of the responses to the aggressive sound alone for the territorial fish are discussed.

scholarly journals Using Biological Motion to Perceive Human Movement During a Remote Task

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 2991
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Kelly ◽  
Michael Cinelli ◽  
Sheryl Bourgaize
Keyword(s):  
Biological Motion ◽  
Human Movement

scholarly journals Attentional networks and biological motion

Psihologija ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandramouli Chandrasekaran ◽  
Lucy Turner ◽  
Heinrich Bülthoff ◽  
Ian Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Biological Motion ◽  
Human Movement ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Light Stimuli ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Point Light ◽  
Perception Of Biological Motion ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

Our ability to see meaningful actions when presented with point-light traces of human movement is commonly referred to as the perception of biological motion. While traditional explanations have emphasized the spontaneous and automatic nature of this ability, more recent findings suggest that attention may play a larger role than is typically assumed. In two studies we show that the speed and accuracy of responding to point-light stimuli is highly correlated with the ability to control selective attention. In our first experiment we measured thresholds for determining the walking direction of a masked point-light figure, and performance on a range of attention-related tasks in the same set of observers. Mask-density thresholds for the direction discrimination task varied quite considerably from observer to observer and this variation was highly correlated with performance on both Stroop and flanker interference tasks. Other components of attention, such as orienting, alerting and visual search efficiency, showed no such relationship. In a second experiment, we examined the relationship between the ability to determine the orientation of unmasked point-light actions and Stroop interference, again finding a strong correlation. Our results are consistent with previous research suggesting that biological motion processing may requite attention, and specifically implicate networks of attention related to executive control and selection.

scholarly journals Emergence of Direction Selectivity at the Convergence of Thalamo-Cortical Synapses in Visual Cortex

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D Lien ◽  
Massimo Scanziani
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Thalamic Neurons ◽  
Response Diversity ◽  
Time Courses

AbstractDetecting the direction of an object’s motion is essential for our representation of the visual environment. Visual cortex is one of the main stages in the mammalian nervous system where motion direction may be computed de novo. Experiments and theories indicate that cortical neurons respond selectively to motion direction by combining inputs that provide information about distinct spatial locations with distinct time-delays. Despite the importance of this spatiotemporal offset for direction selectivity its origin and cellular mechanisms are not fully understood. We show that ~80+/−10 thalamic neurons responding with distinct time-courses to stimuli in distinct locations contribute to the excitation of mouse visual cortical neurons during visual stimulation. Integration of thalamic inputs with the appropriate spatiotemporal offset provides cortical neurons with the primordial bias for direction selectivity. These data show how cortical neurons selectively combine the spatiotemporal response diversity of thalamic neurons to extract fundamental features of the visual world.

scholarly journals Temporal saliency for motion direction may arise from visual stimulus-specific adaptation in avian midbrain inhibitory nucleus

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangtao Wang ◽  
Shuman Huang ◽  
Zhizhong Wang ◽  
Songwei Wang ◽  
Li Shi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Saliency Detection ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Repetitive Motion ◽  
Specific Adaptation ◽  
Temporal Domain ◽  
Temporal Stimuli

Food and predators are the most noteworthy objects for the basic survival of wild animals. In nature, both of these are often rare or deviant in both spatial and temporal domains and would soon attract an animal's attention. Although stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) is considered to be one neural basis of salient sound detection in the temporal domain, related research on visual SSA is lacking. The avian nucleus isthmi pars magnocellularis (Imc), which plays an extremely important role in the selective attention network, is one of the best models for investigating the neural correlate of visual stimulus-specific adaptation (SSA) and detection of salient stimulus in the temporal domain. Here, we used a constant order paradigm to test the existence of SSA in the pigeon's Imc. We found that the strength of response of Imc neurons significantly decreased after repetitive motion stimuli, but recovered when the motion was switched to a novel direction, leading to the saliency detection of the novel motion direction. These results suggest that the inhibitory nucleus Imc shows visual SSA to motion direction, allowing the Imc to implement temporal saliency mapping and to determine the spatial-temporal saliency of the current stimulus. This also implies that pigeons may detect novel spatial-temporal stimuli during the early stage of sensory processing.

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