Retinal Periphery Is Insensitive to Sudden Transient Motion.

Stuart Anstis

doi:10.1177/2041669520937029

Abstract

Peripherally viewed targets moved around against a background of random dynamic noise. Slow movements were visible, fast movements were not. Thus, a target that repetitively drifted to the right and snapped back appeared to drift endlessly to the right with no visible snapbacks.

Highlights

We report a novel illusion of peripherally viewed motion
The random dynamic noise in the background attenuates the motion by reducing the signal to noise ratio
Especially when the random noise is present, an illusion appears; the upper square seems to flicker in place with almost no perceptible side-to-side motion, and the lower square appears to drift continuously to the right without getting anywhere, and without visibly

Summary

Introduction

We report a novel illusion of peripherally viewed motion. The lower square repetitively drifts to the right for 500 ms through a distance of 0.6 (drift speed 1⁄4 1.2/s) and snaps back again to the left. Especially when the random noise is present, an illusion appears; the upper square seems to flicker in place with almost no perceptible side-to-side motion, and the lower square appears to drift continuously (and paradoxically) to the right without getting anywhere, and without visibly

Results

Conclusion