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Biomedical subjects

S Mateeff

Publications and source records attributed to S Mateeff.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Selective directional sensitivity in visual motion perception.

We present two experiments demonstrating that: (i) the latency of perception of the position of a small visual target moving towards the fovea is shorter than that of the same target moving away from the fovea; (ii) the reaction time (RT) to onset of motion of the same type of target is also shorter when it moves towards the fovea; and (iii) the RT to onset of motion away from the fovea may be shorter when larger, textured stimuli are employed. The relation of the findings to the existence of two systems for visual motion information processing and to recent neurophysiological findings is discussed.

Adult

Perceptual constancy during ocular pursuit: a quantitative estimation procedure.

Perceptual constancy of visual motion is usually described as the degree of correspondence between physical and perceived characteristics of motion in the external world. To study it, one has to assess the relationship between physical motion, its retinal image, and its perception. We describe a quantitative estimation procedure for a measure K denoting the degree of perceptual constancy of background target motions noncollinear to the eye movements during ocular pursuit. The calculation of K is based on three vectors describing the target motion (1) as it is physically, (2) as it is mapped to the retina, and (3) as it is perceived, but only the direction of the perceptual motion vector has to be determined experimentally. K allows for quantitative comparison between experiments with a variety of parameters in visual motion displays.

Eye Movements

Visual localization and estimation of extent of target motion during ocular pursuit: a common mechanism?

The ability to localize a visual target and to estimate the distance through which it moves was studied during ocular pursuit. In the first experiment observers had to localize the position of a visually tracked moving target when they heard an acoustic signal. The signal was sounded near the beginning or near the end of the motion. The distance between the perceived positions was shorter than the distance between the corresponding physical positions of the target. The 'shortening' became more pronounced with higher tracking velocity. In another condition the observers estimated the length of the motion path between two successive sound signals, one presented near the beginning and one near the end of the motion. The length of path travelled was underestimated, the effect being stronger with higher tracking velocity. In the second experiment this effect of velocity on the underestimation of distance was shown to exist only during ocular pursuit and not during steady fixation. The hypothesis that localization and estimation of distance during ocular pursuit share a common mechanism is discussed.

Acceleration

The role of the adjacency between background cues and objects in visual localization during ocular pursuit.

Subjects used eye movements to pursue a light target that moved from left to right with a velocity of 15 deg s-1. The stimulus was a sudden five-fold decrease in target intensity during the movement. The subject's task was to localize the stimulus relative to either a single stationary background point or the midpoint between two points (28 deg apart) placed 0.5 deg above the target path. The stimulus was usually mislocated in the direction of eye movement; the mislocation was affected by the spatial adjacency between background and stimulus. When an auditory, rather than a visual, stimulus was presented during tracking, target position at the time of stimulus presentation was visually mislocated in the direction opposite to that of eye movement. The effect of adjacency between background and target remained the same. The involvement of processes of subject-relative and object-relative visual perception is discussed.

Adult

Perceptual latencies are shorter for motion towards the fovea than for motion away.

Subjects had to align a brief test flash with a peripheral steady reference target during ocular pursuit, or with a moving reference target during steady eye fixation. The performance was determined by the direction of movement, of the reference target image on the retina--towards or away from fovea. The data are explained by the hypothesis that the passage of a retinal locus by a moving target image is experienced faster when the image moves foveopetally, regardless of whether the passage is caused by real target movement or by ocular pursuit.

Adult

Dynamic auditory localization: perceived position of a moving sound source.

Experiments are presented in which a sound source was moved at 15.2 cm/s over a horizontal path of 60 cm length, positioned at a 57 cm distance in front of the observer, symmetrically relative to the median plane. The subjects had to localize the sound at different moments of time. The sound source was predominantly mislocated in the direction of the movement; the mislocation increased at the end of the movement by up to 10-11 deg. In another condition the sound source was localized when it was stationary. In this case the mislocation was directed towards the median plane. The differences between the static and dynamic auditory localization are discussed.

Auditory Perception

Localization of the change in intensity of a visually pursued light target.

The aim of the subjects was to track a moving light target and to locate the change in its intensity (its disappearance or dimming). It is shown experimentally that: (1) mislocation of target disappearance is smaller than mislocation when the target is dimmed three times; (2) the distance at which the eyes move after the target is darkened does not influence localization. The data disprove possible influence of "overtracking" on localization. They are in favour of the hypothesis about the dependence of localization on stimulus intensity.

Adult

Localization of the disappearance of a light target during tracking eye movements. II.

A light target moving with constant velocity and disappearing at a place determined by the experimenter, is presented to the subjects who track it visually and determine the locus of its disappearance with respect to a scale mounted on the screen. The result is that the disappearance of the target is systematically mislocated in the direction of the eye movement. The value of the mislocation depends on the target intensity. Under different experimental conditions the subjects localize target disappearance by steady fixation of the eyes. The resulting mislocation has entirely different characteristics compared with the first conditions. The theory that the phenomenon of mislocation is due only to wgnal latency in the visual pathways is rejected. A hypothesis is proposed concerning the participation of psychological factors in the process of localization.

Eye Movements

Visual extrapolation of a line segment to the point of its intersection with a straight line. II.

The article describes three experiments to study visual extrapolation of a line segment to the point of its intersection with a straight line. Eye movements are shown to play no significant role in solving problems involving visual spatial extrapolation. It is also indicated that systematic mislocations of the point of intersection sought in cases of acute angles are preserved even when the motor response is substituted by verbal estimation. When the test line segment is presented for a very short time (tau =20 ms), the estimations of the subjects manifest great individual differences and considerable dispersion. The results of the experiments show that the ability of visual extrapolation is influenced by different and numerous factors and this ability does not reflect only the functioning of simple detectors for direction in the visual system.

Adult