Motion perception with spatiotemporally matched chromatic and achromatic information reveals a “slow” and a “fast” motion system

Abstract

Recent reports dealing with apparent motion challenged the standard view according to which motion processing should be impossible if the visual attributes matched across space and time are processed in independent channels (the similarity principle). The present work examines this possibility insofar as it relates to the spatiotemporal combination of pure chromatic and pure luminance information. The data indicate that the “similarity principle” is indeed infringed at low (⩽2.5 Hz, i.e. velocities of 2.5 deg/sec for spatial modulations of 1 c/deg, in this study) but not at high (⩾ 7.5 Hz) temporal frequencies. The fact that colour and luminance may or may not combine to yield motion perception depending on their temporal modulation reconciliates contradictory results in the literature and supports the idea of two motion systems, a “fast”/specific one, integrating information only from similar subunits, and a “slow”/unspecific one, integrating information across dissimilar subunits (in the present case, across the chromatic and achromatic “domains”). This dichotomy is also supported by the finding that chromatic reverse-phi (i.e. with equiluminant, red and green stimuli) can be observed at medium temporal frequencies but is replaced by direct motion at low temporal frequencies, presumably within the range of the “slow”/unspecific system. Using a modified “minimum motion” technique (referred to as the Reverse-Phi equiluminance method) we present data allowing to assess the relative weights of the two systems as a function of temporal frequency.