scholarly journals The role of optic flow and visual direction in locomotion

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 179a
Author(s):  
Daniel P Panfili ◽  
Jonathan Samir Matthis ◽  
Mary M Hayhoe
Keyword(s):  
2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1006-1013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo Bruggeman ◽  
William H. Warren

Optic flow is known to adapt the direction of walking, but the locus of adaptation remains unknown. The effect could be due to realignment of anatomical eye, head, trunk, and leg coordinate frames or to recalibration of a functional mapping from the visual direction of the target to the direction of locomotion. We tested whether adaptation of walking to a target, with optic flow displaced by 10°, transfers to facing, throwing, and kicking a ball to the target. A negative aftereffect for initial walking direction failed to transfer to head orientation or throwing or kicking direction. Thus, participants effectively threw or kicked the ball to the target, and then walked in another direction to retrieve it. These findings are consistent with recalibration of a task-specific visuo-locomotor mapping, revealing a functional level of organization in perception and action.


2001 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 724-734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holger G. Krapp ◽  
Roland Hengstenberg ◽  
Martin Egelhaaf

Integrating binocular motion information tunes wide-field direction-selective neurons in the fly optic lobe to respond preferentially to specific optic flow fields. This is shown by measuring the local preferred directions (LPDs) and local motion sensitivities (LMSs) at many positions within the receptive fields of three types of anatomically identifiable lobula plate tangential neurons: the three horizontal system (HS) neurons, the two centrifugal horizontal (CH) neurons, and three heterolateral connecting elements. The latter impart to two of the HS and to both CH neurons a sensitivity to motion from the contralateral visual field. Thus in two HS neurons and both CH neurons, the response field comprises part of the ipsi- and contralateral visual hemispheres. The distributions of LPDs within the binocular response fields of each neuron show marked similarities to the optic flow fields created by particular types of self-movements of the fly. Based on the characteristic distributions of local preferred directions and motion sensitivities within the response fields, the functional role of the respective neurons in the context of behaviorally relevant processing of visual wide-field motion is discussed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 385-385
Author(s):  
B. J. Rogers ◽  
O. E. Spencer
Keyword(s):  

1993 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 1578-1584 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. DiZio ◽  
C. E. Lathan ◽  
J. R. Lackner

1. In the oculobrachial illusion, a target light attached to the unseen stationary hand is perceived as moving and changing spatial position when illusory motion of the forearm is elicited by brachial muscle vibration. Our goal was to see whether we could induce apparent motion and displacement of two retinally fixed targets in opposite directions by the use of oculobrachial illusions. 2. We vibrated both biceps brachii, generating illusory movements of the two forearms in opposite directions, and measured any associated changes in perceived distance between target lights on the unseen stationary hands. The stability of visual fixation of one of the targets was also measured. 3. The seen distance between the stationary targets increased significantly when vibration induced an illusory increase in felt distance between the hands, both with binocular and monocular viewing. 4. Subjects maintained fixation accuracy equally well during vibration-induced illusory increases in visual target separation and in a no-vibration control condition. Fixation errors were not correlated with the extent or direction of illusory visual separation. 5. These findings indicate that brachial muscle spindle signals can contribute to an independent representation of felt target location in head-centric coordinates that can be interrelated with a visual representation of target location generated by retinal and oculomotor signals. 6. A model of how these representations are interrelated is proposed, and its relation to other intersensory interactions is discussed.


1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 859-882
Author(s):  
J.D. Mollon

Three factors that have transformed perceptual research in the last fifty years are the digital computer, single-unit electrophysiology, and molecular biology. Amongst the developments in which members of the Experimental Psychology Society have been central are: the recognition of the role of optic flow in spatial vision; the demonstration that our perceptual systems contain parallel pathways extracting different information from the sensory array; the identification of specific detectors that can be selectively adapted in psychophysical experiments; and the transfer of the concepts of fourier analysis from audition to vision. The history of Opponent Process Theory offers an example where experimental psychologists have been misled by too simple an interpretation of physiological recordings.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 799-799
Author(s):  
S. Li ◽  
D. C. Niehorster ◽  
L. Li
Keyword(s):  

2004 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 1314-1326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary W. Heuer ◽  
Kenneth H. Britten

The medial superior temporal area of extrastriate cortex (MST) contains signals selective for nonuniform patterns of motion often termed “optic flow.” The presence of such tuning, however, does not necessarily imply involvement in perception. To quantify the relationship between these selective neuronal signals and the perception of optic flow, we designed a discrimination task that allowed us to simultaneously record neuronal and behavioral sensitivities to near-threshold optic flow stimuli tailored to MST cells' preferences. In this two-alternative forced-choice task, we controlled the salience of globally opposite patterns (e.g., expansion and contraction) by varying the coherence of the motion. Using these stimuli, we could both relate the sensitivity of neuronal signals in MST to the animal's behavioral sensitivity and also measure trial-by-trial correlation between neuronal signals and behavioral choices. Neurons in MST showed a wide range of sensitivities to these complex motion stimuli. Many neurons had sensitivities equal or superior to the monkey's threshold. On the other hand, trial-by-trial correlation between neuronal discharge and choice (“choice probability”) was weak or nonexistent in our data. Together, these results lead us to conclude that MST contains sufficient information for threshold judgments of optic flow; however, the role of MST activity in optic flow discriminations may be less direct than in other visual motion tasks previously described by other laboratories.


2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy D. Zosh ◽  
Andrew P. Duchon ◽  
William H. Warren
Keyword(s):  

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