Abstract
Human observers perceive illusory rotations after the disappearance of circularly repeating patches containing dark-to-light luminance. This afterimage rotation is a very powerful phenomenon, but little is known about the mechanisms underlying it. Here, we use a computational model to show that the afterimage rotation can be explained by a combination of fast light adaptation and the physiological architecture of the early visual system, consisting of ON- and OFF-type visual pathways. In this retinal ON/OFF model, the afterimage rotation appeared as a rotation of focus lines of retinal ON/OFF responses. Focus lines rotated clockwise on a light background, but counterclockwise on a dark background. These findings were consistent with the results of psychophysical experiments, which were also performed by us. Additionally, the velocity of the afterimage rotation was comparable with that observed in our psychophysical experiments. These results suggest that the early visual system (including the retina) is responsible for the generation of the afterimage rotation, and that this illusory rotation may be systematically misinterpreted by our high-level visual system.
Highlights
Motion illusions, a class of visual illusions, are observed when a static image appears to be moving in our visual field [1]
The afterimage rotation is known to end within one second of the disappearance of the FW stimulus [10], and this period is compatible with the fast light adaptation of the visual system [12, 13]
A previous psychophysical experiment found that the peripheral drift illusion was associated with the biphasic shape with a large undershoot of the temporal impulse response (TIR) function [9]
Summary
A class of visual illusions, are observed when a static image appears to be moving in our visual field [1]. One example is the peripheral drift illusion [2, 3], where illusory motion is perceived when observers gaze or blink in the presence of a particular image in the peripheral visual field [3]. The afterimage appears as a compensation of the original FW stimulus and fades out with time. During this process, the equiluminance location moves with time, creating an illusory perception of rotation. The equiluminance location moves with time, creating an illusory perception of rotation This is a reasonable phenomenological description, but a mechanistic explanation of this illusory rotation has not yet been achieved with detailed computational modeling
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