Motion after-effect due to binocular sum of adaptation to linear motion

Abstract

The motion after-effect (MAE) can be elicited by adapting observers to global motion of randomly distributed dots before they view a display containing dots moving in random directions, but no global motion. Experiments by others have shown that if the adaptation stimulus contains two directions of motion, the MAE points opposite to the vector sum of the adapting directions. The present study investigated whether such vector addition in the MAE could also occur if the two directions of motion were presented to separate eyes. Observers were adapted to different, but not opposite, directions of motion in the two eyes. Either the left eye, the right eye, or both eyes were tested. Observers reported the direction of perceived motion during the test. When they saw the test stimulus with both eyes, observers reported seeing motion in the direction opposite that of the vector sum of the adaptation directions. In the monocular test conditions observers reported MAE directions opposite to the corresponding monocular adaptation directions. In a second experiment we verified that subjects had interocular transfer of the MAE. Together these results are consistent with a model in which (1) addition of adaptation directions occurs at a binocular site; (2) directional adaptation occurs at a monocular site; and (3) monocular adaptation is able to change the threshold for obtaining an MAE at the binocular site, thus acting like binocular adaptation in interocular transfer of the MAE.