Spatiotemporal Interpolation in Vision

Abstract

Stroboscopic presentation of a moving object can be interpolated by our visual system into the perception of continuous motion. The precision of this interpolation process has been explored by measuring the vernier discrimination threshold for targets displayed stroboscopically at a sequence of stations. The vernier targets, moving at constant velocity, were presented either with a spatial offset or with a temporal offset or with both. The main results are:1)Vernier acuity for spatial offset is rather invariant over a wide range of velocities and separations between the stations (see Westheimer & McKee, 1975).2)Vernier acuity for temporal offset depends on separation and velocity. Optimal acuity decreases with increasing separation.3)Blur of the vernier pattern decreases acuity for spatial offsets, but improves acuity for temporal offsets.4)A temporal offset exactly compensates the equivalent spatial offset only for a small separation and optimal velocity. Otherwise the spatial offset dominates.