scholarly journals Pupil responses to implied motion in figurative and abstract paintings

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0258490
Author(s):  
Serena Castellotti ◽  
Lisa Scipioni ◽  
Stefano Mastandrea ◽  
Maria Michela Del Viva
Keyword(s):  
Pupil Size ◽  
Aesthetic Experience ◽  
Pupillary Response ◽  
Motion Blur ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Directional Information ◽  
Implied Motion ◽  
Visual Motion Processing ◽  
Static Images

Motion can be perceived in static images, such as photos and figurative paintings, representing realistic subjects in motion, with or without directional information (e.g., motion blur or speed lines). Motion impression can be achieved even in non-realistic static images such as motion illusions and abstract paintings. It has been shown that visual motion processing affects the diameter of the pupil, responding differently to real, illusory, and implied motion in photographs (IM). It has been suggested that these different effects might be due to top-down modulations from different cortical areas underlying their processing. It is worthwhile to investigate pupillary response to figurative paintings, since they require an even higher level of interpretation than photos representing the same kind of subjects, given the complexity of cognitive processes involved in the aesthetic experience. Also, pupil responses to abstract paintings allows to study the effect of IM perception in representations devoid of real-life motion cues. We measured pupil responses to IM in figurative and abstract artworks depicting static and dynamic scenes, as rated by a large group of individuals not participating in the following experiment. Since the pupillary response is modulated by the subjective image interpretation, a motion rating test has been used to correct individual pupil data according to whether participants actually perceived the presence of motion in the paintings. Pupil responses to movies showing figurative and abstract subjects, and to motion illusions were also measured, to compare real and illusory motion with painted IM. Movies, both figurative and abstract, elicit the largest pupillary dilation of all static stimuli, whereas motion illusions cause the smallest pupil size, as previously shown. Interestingly, pupil responses to IM depend on the paintings’ style. Figurative paintings depicting moving subjects cause more dilation than those representing static figures, and pupil size increases with the strength of IM, as already found with realistic photos. The opposite effect is obtained with abstract artworks. Abstract paintings depicting motion produce less dilation than those depicting stillness. In any case, these results reflect the individual subjective perception of dynamism, as the very same paintings can induce opposite responses in observer which interpreted it as static or dynamic. Overall, our data show that pupil size depends on high-level interpretation of motion in paintings, even when they do not represent real-world scenes. Our findings further suggest that the pupil is modulated by multiple top-down cortical mechanisms, involving the processing of motion, attention, memory, imagination, and other cognitive functions necessary for enjoying a complete aesthetic experience.

scholarly journals Visual Motion Processing and Visual Sensorimotor Control in Autism

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukari Takarae ◽  
Beatriz Luna ◽  
Nancy J. Minshew ◽  
John A. Sweeney
Keyword(s):  
Visual Motion ◽  
Sensorimotor Control ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Visual Motion Perception ◽  
Visual Pursuit ◽  
Visual Motion Processing ◽  
Pursuit Tracking ◽  
Passive Viewing ◽  
Active Pursuit

AbstractImpairments in visual motion perception and use of visual motion information to guide behavior have been reported in autism, but the brain alterations underlying these abnormalities are not well characterized. We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies to investigate neural correlates of impairments related to visual motion processing. Sixteen high-functioning individuals with autism and 14 age and IQ-matched typically developing individuals completed two fMRI tasks using passive viewing to examine bottom–up responses to visual motion and visual pursuit tracking to assess top–down modulation of visual motion processing during sensorimotor control. The autism group showed greater activation and faster hemodynamic decay in V5 during the passive viewing task and reduced frontal and V5 activation during visual pursuit. The observations of increased V5 activation and its faster decay during passive viewing suggest alterations in local V5 circuitries that may be associated with reduced GABAergic tone and inhibitory modulation. Reduced frontal and V5 activation during active pursuit suggest reduced top–down modulation of sensory processing. These results suggest that both local intrinsic abnormalities in V5 and more widely distributed network level abnormalities are associated with visual motion processing in autism. (JINS, 2014, 20, 113–122)

scholarly journals Self-operated stimuli improve subsequent visual motion processing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Sedda ◽  
David J. Ostry ◽  
Vittorio Sanguineti ◽  
Silvio P. Sabatini
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Stimulus Motion ◽  
Directional Information ◽  
Movement Training ◽  
Visual Motion Processing ◽  
Perceptual Changes

Proper interpretation of visual information requires capturing the structural regularities in the visual signal and this frequently occurs in conjunction with movement. Perceptual interpretation is complicated both by transient perceptual changes that accompany motor activity, and as found in audition and somatosensation, by more persistent changes that accompany the learning of new movements. Here we asked whether motor learning also results in sustained changes to visual perception. We designed a reaching task in which participants directly controlled the visual information they received, which we term self-operated stimuli. Specifically, they trained to make movements in a number of directions. Directional information was provided by the motion of an intrinsically ambiguous moving stimulus which was directly tied to motion of the hand. We find that movement training improves perception of coherent stimulus motion, and that changes in movement are correlated with the perceptual change. No perceptual changes are observed in passive observers even when they are provided with an explicit strategy to solve perceptual grouping. Comparison of empirical perceptual data with simulations based on a Bayesian generative model of motion perception suggests that movement training promotes the fine-tuning of the internal representation of stimulus geometry. These results emphasize the role of sensorimotor interaction in determining the persistent properties in space and time that define a percept.

Top-down effect on pupillary response: Evidence from shape from shading

Cognition ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 212 ◽  
pp. 104664
Author(s):  
Ayelet Sapir ◽  
Ronen Hershman ◽  
Avishai Henik
Keyword(s):  
Shape From Shading ◽  
Pupillary Response ◽  
Top Down

Pursuit and optokinetic deficits following chemical lesions of cortical areas MT and MST

1988 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 940-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Dursteler ◽  
R. H. Wurtz
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Ibotenic Acid ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Target Speed ◽  
Pursuit Eye Movements ◽  
Medial Superior Temporal ◽  
Visual Motion Processing

1. Previous experiments have shown that punctate chemical lesions within the middle temporal area (MT) of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) produce deficits in the initiation and maintenance of pursuit eye movements (10, 34). The present experiments were designed to test the effect of such chemical lesions in an area within the STS to which MT projects, the medial superior temporal area (MST). 2. We injected ibotenic acid into localized regions of MST, and we observed two deficits in pursuit eye movements, a retinotopic deficit and a directional deficit. 3. The retinotopic deficit in pursuit initiation was characterized by the monkey's inability to match eye speed to target speed or to adjust the amplitude of the saccade made to acquire the target to compensate for target motion. This deficit was related to the initiation of pursuit to targets moving in any direction in the visual field contralateral to the side of the brain with the lesion. This deficit was similar to the deficit we found following damage to extrafoveal MT except that the affected area of the visual field frequently extended throughout the entire contralateral visual field tested. 4. The directional deficit in pursuit maintenance was characterized by a failure to match eye speed to target speed once the fovea had been brought near the moving target. This deficit occurred only when the target was moving toward the side of the lesion, regardless of whether the target began to move in the ipsilateral or contralateral visual field. There was no deficit in the amplitude of saccades made to acquire the target, or in the amplitude of the catch-up saccades made to compensate for the slowed pursuit. The directional deficit is similar to the one we described previously following chemical lesions of the foveal representation in the STS. 5. Retinotopic deficits resulted from any of our injections in MST. Directional deficits resulted from lesions limited to subregions within MST, particularly lesions that invaded the floor of the STS and the posterior bank of the STS just lateral to MT. Extensive damage to the densely myelinated area of the anterior bank or to the posterior parietal area on the dorsal lip of the anterior bank produced minimal directional deficits. 6. We conclude that damage to visual motion processing in MST underlies the retinotopic pursuit deficit just as it does in MT. MST appears to be a sequential step in visual motion processing that occurs before all of the visual motion information is transmitted to the brainstem areas related to pursuit.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

scholarly journals Safe and sensible baseline correction of pupil-size data

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastiaan Mathôt ◽  
Jasper Fabius ◽  
Elle van Heusden ◽  
Stefan Van der Stigchel
Keyword(s):  
Pupil Size ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Baseline Period ◽  
Experimental Manipulation ◽  
Pupillary Response ◽  
Baseline Correction ◽  
Data Loss ◽  
Eye Blinks ◽  
Random Fluctuations ◽  
Size Data

Measurement of pupil size (pupillometry) has recently gained renewed interest from psychologists, but there is little agreement on how pupil-size data is best analyzed. Here we focus on one aspect of pupillometric analyses: baseline correction, that is, analyzing changes in pupil size relative to a baseline period. Baseline correction is useful in experiments that investigate the effect of some experimental manipulation on pupil size. In such experiments, baseline correction improves statistical power by taking into account random fluctuations in pupil size over time. However, we show that baseline correction can also distort data if unrealistically small pupil sizes are recorded during the baseline period, which can easily occur due to eye blinks, data loss, or other distortions. Divisive baseline correction (corrected pupil size = pupil size / baseline) is affected more strongly by such distortions than subtractive baseline correction (corrected pupil size = pupil size - baseline). We make four recommendations for safe and sensible baseline correction of pupil-size data: 1) use subtractive baseline correction; 2) visually compare your corrected and uncorrected data; 3) be wary of pupil-size effects that emerge faster than the latency of the pupillary response allows (within ±220 ms after the manipulation that induces the effect); and 4) remove trials on which baseline pupil size is unrealistically small (indicative of blinks and other distortions).

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