Dependencies of motion assimilation and motion contrast on spatial properties of stimuli: Spatial-frequency nonselective and selective interactions between local motion detectors

Two sets of experiments were carried out to examine dependencies of two types of induced motion (motion assimilation and motion contrast) on spatial properties of stimuli in terms of spatial-frequency tuning of local motion detectors, In the first set, the magnitudes of motion assimilation and motion contrast for a sinusoidal grating were measured as a function of the spatial frequency of the inducing gratings, with the spatial frequency of the test grating as a parameter, In the second set, the magnitudes were measured as a function of the height of the inducing gratings with the spatial frequencies of the test and the inducing gratings as parameters, For motion assimilation, the magnitude was characterized by a low-pass function of the spatial frequency of the inducing gratings, and the critical height of the inducing gratings, which demarcates the extent of the spatial pooling, varied systematically depending on the spatial frequency of the inducing gratings, For motion contrast, on the other hand, the magnitude was characterized by a band-pass function, and the critical height depended on the frequency of the test grating. These results suggest that motion assimilation is mediated by the spatial-frequency nonselective interaction between the local detectors, in which the motion signals of the detectors tuned to different spatial frequencies are integrated with each other. Motion contrast is mediated by the spatial-frequency selective interaction, in which the motion signals of the local detectors tuned to the same or similar spatial frequencies are compared and differentiated. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.