Motion aftereffect (MAE) is a negative aftereffect caused by prolonged viewing of visual motion: after gazing at a moving grating for a while, a stationary image will appear to move in the opposite direction (Ashida and Osaka, 1995 Vision Research35 1825). Evoked magnetic field (magnetoencephalogram: MEG) was measured when a human subject observing ring MAE in which concentric circles appear to contract continuously after viewing continuously expanding rings. The diameter of the stimulus was 20 deg with fixation point in the centre. The magnetic evoked field (80 averagings at a latency of 190 ms) was measured from 37 points over the occipital and parietal areas (Magnes SQUID biomagnetometer, BTi) while the subject was observing stationary rings after an adaptation period of 2 s at low spatial frequency (4 cycles deg−1, 4 Hz). The luminance profile was sinusoidally changed across rings. MRI image fitting (sagittal, coronal, and axial view) for each of four subjects, and dipole estimates obtained for equal magnetic field contours (with value of goodness of fit greater than 0.98) from the right brain hemisphere suggest that the main loci subserving MAE lie in the surrounding region over the lateral occipitotemporal areas in the human brain, close to area MT. This is in good agreement with another study with fMRI-based MAE measures [Tootell et al, 1995 Nature (London)375 139] in which a clear increase in activity in these areas was observed when subjects viewed MAE.