Abstract
Experiments are reported in which it was found that, with the angular speed of a visual surround held constant, the perceived speed of rotary self-motion increased linearly with increasing perceived distance of this surround. This finding was in agreement with a motion constancy equation derived from a consideration of object-referred motion perception. Since information concerning distance is necessary for the perception of linear but not angular speed, this finding supports the conclusion that visually perceived rotary self-motion perception is dependent upon perceived linear surround motion at least in the horizontal plane. The visual motion constancy mechanism which operates for object-referred motion can apparently not be switched off for the special case of self-motion perception.
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Wist, E. R., Diener, H. C. and Dichgans, J. Perceived distance, spatial frequency, and object-referred motion perception. In preparation.
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The first author is on sabbatical leave from the Whitely Psychology Laboratories. Franklin and Marshall College. Lancaster. Pennsylvania. This research was conducted while he was a “U.S. Senior Scientist Awardee” of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Additional support was provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 70. "Hirnforschung und Sinnesphysiologie”).
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Wist, E.R., Diener, H.C., Dichgans, J. et al. Perceived distance and the perceived speed of self-motion: Linear vs. angular velocity?. Perception & Psychophysics 17, 549–554 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203967
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203967