Temporal Characteristics of Figure vs. Ground Segregation and Direction of Apparent Motion Perception

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the temporal characteristics of motion perception under the use of a modified dynamic random-dot kinematograms (DRDK). A frame of animated DRDK was further divided into 2 or 3 subframes, which is named as multi-partite stimulus. The original DRDK rendered motion of a rectangle, reciprocally moving into right-and-left or up-and-down. The subjects’ task was to segregate the figure from the dynamic random-dot background, or to discriminate the direction of its motion. In the segregation task, the subjects were able to perceive a rectangle, when presented within the moderate duration of a fullframe. Compared with segregation task, apparent motion perception was not degraded in the direction discrimination task. The results of this study suggest that the duration of a fullframe, not the SOA between subframes, had an important role in the integration of multi-partite DRDK into a firm percept,especially in pattern segregation.