Abstract
This study examined the mechanism of alpha motion, the apparent motion of the Müller-Lyer figure’s shaft that occurs when the arrowheads and arrow tails are alternately presented. The following facts were found: (a) reduced exposure duration decreased the amount of alpha motion, and this phenomenon was not explainable by the amount of the Müller-Lyer illusion; (b) the motion aftereffect occurred after adaptation to alpha motion; (c) occurrence of alpha motion became difficult when the temporal frequency increased, and this characteristic of alpha motion was similar to the characteristic of a motion detector that motion detection became difficult when the temporal frequency increased from the optimal frequency. These findings indicated that alpha motion occurs on the basis of a motion detector but not on the Müller-Lyer illusion, and that the mechanism of alpha motion is the same as that of general motion perception.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
F. C. Müller-Lyer: Archiv für Anatomie und Physiologie. Physiologische Abteilung. Supplement (1889) 263.
R. H. Day and H. Knuth: Perception 10 (1981) 126.
F. Kenkel: Zeitschrift für Psychologie 67 (1913) 358.
D. Marr and S. Ullman: Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 211 (1981) 151.
E. H. Adelson and J. R. Bergen: J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 2 (1985) 284.
J. P. H. van Santen and G. Sperling: J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 2 (1985) 300.
A. B. Watson and A. J. Ahumada, Jr.: J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 2 (1985) 322.
M. Ogata and T. Sato: J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 9 (1992) 377.
R. C. Bolles: Percept. Psychophys. 6 (1969) 175.
A. Erlebacher and R. Sekuler: J. Exp. Psychol. 103 (1974) 724.
N. S. Sutherland: Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 13 (1961) 222.
G. Mather: Perception 9 (1980) 379.
H. Saito, M. Yukie, K. Tanaka, K. Hikosaka, Y. Fukada, and E. Iwai: J. Neurosci. 6 (1986) 145.
P. J. Bex, A. B. Metha, and W. Makous: Vision Res. 39 (1999) 2229.
S. Anstis, D. Giaschi, and A. I. Cogan: Vision Res. 25 (1985) 1051.
A. H. Pierce: Science 8 (1898) 814.
T. Oyama: Psychologia 3 (1960) 7.
R. L. Gregory: Nature 199 (1963) 678.
A. W. Pressey: Percept. Mot. Skills 25 (1967) 569.
R. L. Gregory: Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 171 (1968) 279.
A. W. Pressey: Percept. Psychophys. 8 (1970) 411.
R. L. Gregory: Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 352 (1997) 1121.
C. Q. Howe and D. Purves: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102 (2005) 1234.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Suzuki, M. Alpha motion based on a motion detector, but not on the Müller-Lyer illusion. OPT REV 21, 468–473 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10043-014-0072-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10043-014-0072-3