Behavioral significance of motion direction causes anisotropic flash-lag, flash-drag, flash-repulsion, and movement-mislocalization effects

Abstract

Motion from periphery to central vision (foveopetal motion) causes a greater flash-lag effect than motion in the opposite direction (foveofugal motion). In order to examine the factors that contribute to the motion direction-based anisotropic flash-lag effect, we investigated the mislocalization of the flash caused by motion and the mislocalization of the moving object per se. We observed that for foveofugal motion, flashes were perceived shifted in the direction of motion but mislocalized in the opposite direction for foveopetal motion. Additionally the mislocalization of the moving object was larger in foveopetal motion than in foveofugal motion. Thus, both factors contribute to the anisotropic flash-lag effect. We interpret these findings in terms of greater behavioral significance of foveopetal motion in relation to foveofugal motion.