Abstract
This study investigated evoked and oscillatory brain activity in response to forward visual motion at three different ecologically valid speeds, simulated through an optic flow pattern consisting of a virtual road with moving poles at either side of it. Participants were prelocomotor infants at 4–5 months, crawling infants at 9–11 months, primary school children at 6 years, adolescents at 12 years, and young adults. N2 latencies for motion decreased significantly with age from around 400 ms in prelocomotor infants to 325 ms in crawling infants, and from 300 and 275 ms in 6- and 12-year-olds, respectively, to 250 ms in adults. Infants at 4–5 months displayed the longest latencies and appeared unable to differentiate between motion speeds. In contrast, crawling infants at 9–11 months and 6-year-old children differentiated between low, medium and high speeds, with shortest latency for low speed. Adolescents and adults displayed similar short latencies for the three motion speeds, indicating that they perceived them as equally easy to detect. Time–frequency analyses indicated that with increasing age, participants showed a progression from low- to high-frequency desynchronized oscillatory brain activity in response to visual motion. The developmental differences in motion speed perception are interpreted in terms of a combination of neurobiological development and increased experience with self-produced locomotion. Our findings suggest that motion speed perception is not fully developed until adolescence, which has implications for children’s road traffic safety.
Highlights
Optic flow is the pattern of visual information produced by self-motion (Gibson 1979/2015)
The aim of this study was to investigate the development of motion speed perception in response to simulated forwards motion from infancy to early adulthood, using analyses of visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and time–frequency oscillations (TSE, temporal spectral evolution)
The four electrodes with the highest N2 amplitude for low speed were selected in the grand average VEPs and used as a guide to identify the individual N2 component for each participant
Summary
Optic flow is the pattern of visual information produced by self-motion (Gibson 1979/2015). Essential to navigating in the real world, optic flow provides information about the relative movement of objects, and their speeds in relation to the observer (Vilhelmsen et al 2019). The environment changes according to our movements, and optic flow is crucial when controlling heading direction (Bruggeman et al 2007; Warren et al 2001), stabilizing posture (Bertenthal et al 1997; Higgins et al 1996), Communicated by Melvyn A. Optic flow information is processed by the medial superior temporal (MST) area of the dorsal visual stream (Duffy 1998; Holliday and Meese 2008; Yu et al 2010). The processing of radial motion involves the human medial temporal/visual area 5 (hMT/V5) (Dukelow et al 2001; Morrone et al 2000; Smith et al 2006), while global motion elicits activity in parietal areas and visual area V3a (Wattam-Bell 1991, 2010)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
