title: Changes in the perceived direction of drifting plaids, induced by asymmetrical changes in the spatio-temporal structure of the underlying components.
abstract: When a plaid pattern with symmetrical velocity components (Type I) is changed to a plaid pattern with asymmetrical velocity components (Type IA), the overall direction of drift appears to undergo a rotation without any other change to the spatial parameters of the components. This change in the perceived drift direction can be induced by altering either the temporal frequency of the components or by altering their spatial frequency. In separate experiments, we have estimated the magnitude of the temporal and spatial frequency thresholds that are necessary to create a liminal change in direction of this type. The results from both temporal and spatial frequency experiments are closely similar. We find that liminal rotations can be induced by changes in the spatio-temporal structure of the sine-wave grating components that are undetectable when these components are presented in isolation. Further, we find that the "velocity threshold for direction" is not a constant factor, but critically depends on the relative orientation of the two elements that form the plaid. Forced-choice experiments were also conducted to estimate the extent of the apparent rotation of the plaid pattern for differing levels of asymmetry in the spatial frequency and temporal frequency of the components. The magnitude of the pattern rotation is predicted by a model of motion direction that encodes the successive displacements of the intersections of the gratings. Finally, we demonstrate that the velocity thresholds for perceived rotation exhibit a meridional anisotropy that depends on the direction of drift of the overall pattern and not on the orientation of the components.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of St Andrews, Fife, Scotland.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Heeley
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Buchanan-Smith
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011601:Psychophysics; D012399:Rotation; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D012858:Size Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors