Abstract
The aim of this study was to identify some properties of changing proximal stimulus patterns which favor perceived oscillation. By using artificially generated stimulus patterns, it was found that the amount of changes associated with a certain direction of rotation should be small and the rate of these changes low if perceived oscillation was to appear. Great or swift changes were utilized by the visual system to determine perceived direction of rotation, and oscillation was not then reported. It was further found that patterns lacking straight edges perpendicular to the axis of rotation, or with this axis displaced from the middle of the pattern, and patterns with a gradient of texture density were perceived to oscillate more than similar patterns without these properties. Perceived oscillation of ellipses was discussed, and it was concluded that perceived oscillation was a consequence of perceived orientation, which is determined by stimulus properties.
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The author is indebted to Professor Gunnar Johansson and Dr. Gunnar Jansson for highly valuable discussions on this project, which was made possible by grants to Professor Johansson from The Swedish Council for Social Science Research and The Tricentennial Fund of Bank of Sweden.
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Börjesson, E. Properties of changing patterns evoking visually perceived oscillation. Perception & Psychophysics 9, 303–308 (1971). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212654
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212654