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Perception of illusory contours enhanced in motion

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Abstract

Investigation on illusory contours is important for understanding the mechanisms underlying the object recognition of human visual system. Numerous researches have shown that illusory contours formed in motion and stereopsis are generated by the unmatched features. Here we conduct three psychophysical experiments to test if Kanizsa illusory contours are also caused by unmatched information. Different types of motion (including horizontal translation, radial expanding and shrinking) are utilized in the experiments. The results show that no matter under what kind of motion, when figures or background move separately illusory contours are perceived stronger, and there is no significant difference between the perceived strength in these two types of motion. However, no such enhancement of perceived strength is found when figures and background move together. It is found that the strengthened unmatched features generate the enhancement effect of illusory contour perception in motion. Thus the results suggest that the process of unmatched information in visual system is a critical step in the formation of illusory contours.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Visual Information Processing, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, China

    Rui Ni, Zhihong Wang, Xinnian Wu & Yunjiu Wang

  2. National Key Laboratory of Mechatronic Engineering and Control, Beijing Institute of Technology, 100081, Beijing, China

    Dongguang Li

Authors
  1. Rui Ni
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  2. Zhihong Wang
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  3. Xinnian Wu
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  4. Yunjiu Wang
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  5. Dongguang Li
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Correspondence to Xinnian Wu.

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Ni, R., Wang, Z., Wu, X. et al. Perception of illusory contours enhanced in motion. Sci. China Ser. C.-Life Sci. 46, 570–583 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1360/03yc0106

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/03yc0106

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