Subthreshold addition of real and apparent motion

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Abstract

The subthreshold interaction of real and apparent motion has been investigated by measurement of threshold-illumination levels for detection of a continuously moving target in the presence of subthreshold apparent movement. The results of these experiments show that the subthreshold illumination level of the apparent motion stimulus configuration adds almost linearly to the threshold illumination level for detection of a continuously moving target, provided that the direction of apparent motion movement corresponds to that of the test target. The maximum interaction is observed for test target speeds centred around the “equivalent” target speed of the apparent motion stimulus configuration, and falls gradually as the relative direction of the two motion stimuli is made increasingly dissimilar. Subthreshold-apparent motion in the opposite direction to that of the test target fails to cause any significant change in threshold illumination levels for detection of the continuously moving target over the whole range of test target speeds. These results suggest that the extraction of movement information in response to continuous target displacement on the retina involves visual mechanisms which also contribute to the extraction of apparent movement.

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