Abstract
Purpose: During the formation of hierarchical motion patterns, the observation of global motion patterns can affect the perception of local motion patterns (Hock, Schöner, Brownlow and Taler, 2011). The purpose of this study is to determine whether global-to-local feedback is specific to areas where locally stimulated motion patterns exist within a global pattern, or whether this feedback generalizes to other spatial locations of the global pattern that are not locally stimulated. Hypothesis: If global-to-local feedback is not spatial location specific, we expect that exposure to a global motion pattern will affect the perception of a local motion that is presented at a location in the visual field that was not previously stimulated by the global motion pattern. Methods: Four motion quartets were organized into a diamond configuration to induce a global motion pattern described as global rotational rocking. After viewing the global motion pattern, participants viewed a single motion quartet which was present in one of two locations: the top portion of the previously presented diamond quartet or along the rotational arc between the top and left portion of the previously presented diamond quartet. After stimulus presentation, participants reported 1) whether they perceived rotational rocking with the four motion quartets, and 2) the direction of motion induced by the individual motion quartet that was presented after the global motion pattern. Results: For the single quartet presented after perception of rotational rocking motion, we found that participants were more likely to report motion as rotation consistent, irrespective of the location of the single motion quartet. Conclusion: Our results suggest the top-down influence of global motion patterns on local motion patterns is not spatial location specific.