Motion-induced spatial conflict

Borders defined by small changes in brightness (luminance contrast) or by differences in colour (chromatic contrast) appear to move more slowly than those defined by strong luminance contrast(1-4). As spatial coding is influenced by motion(5-7), if placed in close proximity, the different types of moving border might appear to drift apart(8). Using this configuration, we show here that observers instead report a clear illusory spatial jitter of the low-luminance-contrast boundary. This visible interaction between motion and spatial-position coding occurred at a characteristic rate (similar to22.3 Hz), although the stimulus motion was continuous and invariant. The jitter rate did not vary with the speed of movement. The jitter was not due to small involuntary movements of the eyes, because it only occurred at a specific point within the stimulus, the low-luminance-contrast boundary. These findings show that the human visual system contains a neural mechanism that periodically resolves the spatial conflict created by adjacent moving borders that have the same physical but different perceptual speeds.