Movement Perception

 Although some animals may have poor depth perception or

rudimentary color vision, none lacks the ability to perceive
motion.
 Losing the ability to perceive movement, as occurs in cases of
motion agnosia, poses serious problems for day to day living.
 The study of movement perception provides examples of how
perception
(1) is a creation of the nervous system.
(2) depends on more than the image on the retina
(3) involves interactions between different qualities
(4) depends on heuristics and cognitive factors
 Perception is a creation of the nervous system. We perceive motion even when there is no movement, as
when our nervous system causes us to perceive motion when stationary lights flash on and off, one after
another.
 Visual perception often depends on more than just the image on the retina. We perceive movement when
we follow a moving object, even though its image stays at the same place on our retinas.
 Perception often involves an interaction between different perceptual qualities. Our own movements and
the movements of objects can help us to more accurately perceive an object’s shape and its location in
space.
 Perception often depends on heuristics, rules of thumb that provide “best-guess” estimates of what a
particular stimulus is, and also on top-down processing based on cognitive factors, such as knowledge
an observer brings to a particular situation.
Four types of movement perception are
1. Real Movement
2. Apparent Movement
3. Induces Movement
4. Movement Aftereffects(‘waterfall Illusion’)
Real Movement
 The most straightforward way to create the perception of movement is to simply move an object across
an observer’s field of view. This situation is called real movement, since the object is physically
moving. Early researchers studied real movement by measuring basic properties such as the threshold
for movement. They found that the threshold for perceiving movement in a homogeneous field is a
velocity of about 1/6 to 1/3 of a degree of visual angle per second.
Apparent Movement
 At about the time early researchers were measuring thresholds for the perception of real movement,
Exner (1875) demonstrated that a perception of movement can be created even when no movement is
actually occurring. He accomplished this by discharging two nearby electrical sparks, one after the
other. Then he did this, movement appeared to occur across the space between them. This perception of
 movement across empty space, which is called stroboscopic movement or apparent movement, was put
to practical use in the creation of the first motion pictures in the late 1800s.
Induced Movement
 Apparent movement is an illusion because we perceive movement even though the stimuli are not
moving. Induced movement is as illusion that occurs when movement of one object induces the
perception of movement in another object. You have experienced induced movement if you have seen
the moon racing through the clouds on a windy night. The moving clouds induce movement in the
stationary moon.
Motion Aftereffect
 If you look at a waterfall or a flowing stream and then look away, and the ground appears to move in the
direction opposite to the movement of the waterfall, you are experiencing a movement aftereffect called
the waterfall illusion. Movement aftereffects can also occur when viewing other kinds of motion, such
as a spiral that, when rotated, appears to move inward. When you look away after viewing this inward
moving spiral, things appear to expand out. This is the spiral motion aftereffect.

Time Perception
 Humans don't perceive time objectively. Common wisdom suggests that “good days pass too quickly,
and days waiting for loved ones to return from war pass too slowly”
 “As A watched pot never boils”
Time perception is a field of study within psychology and neuroscience. It refers to the sense of time, which
differs from other senses since time cannot be directly perceived but must be reconstructed by the brain.
Humans can perceive relatively short periods of time, in the order of milliseconds, and also durations that are a
significant fraction of a lifetime. Unlike our other senses, our perception of time has no defined location in our
brain, making it difficult to understand and study.
Factors of Time Perception
 Block (1990) has identified four factors that provide a context within which psychological time is
perceived:
1. Characteristics of the time experiencer
2. Time-related behaviors and judgments
3. Contents of a time period
4. Activities during a time period.
Block stresses the interrelationships among the four factors; changes in one factor are likely to induce changes
among the other factors.
Characteristics of the Time Experiencer
 Time perception is influenced by physiological state, knowledge, personality, and other factors.
 Time is of greater concern to different cultures and different groups within the same culture.
 Nonetheless, all people have a number of internal processes that follow circadian rhythms, suggesting
the presence of an internal biological clock.
 A moderate correlation between the pace of life and the rate of death from heart disease exist.
 Time-related Behaviors and Judgments
Methods of time estimation
 Verbal Estimates
 Production - Psychophysical
 Reproduction
 Comparison
Contents of a Time Period
The contents of a time period influence duration estimates; a time period is judged longer if it is intense,
complex, and segmented. Some evidence suggests that a filled time period is perceived as longer than an empty
time period, although it appears that this might well be due to expectations derived from the information filling
the time period.
Activities during a Time Period
 Activities of the participants influence duration estimates; a time period is judged less accurately if
people are performing other tasks simultaneously.
 Time appears to pass more quickly if people are waiting for an unpleasant event, or if the situation in
which they are engaged is pleasant.
Summary
“ WE DON’T SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE, WE SEE THINGS AS WE ARE.”
Perception
“The study of perception is concerned with identifying the process through which we interpret and organize
sensory information to produce our conscious experience of objects and object relationship.”
“Perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us. It involves
deciding which information to notice, how to categorize this information and how to interpret it within the
framework of existing knowledge.
 “ A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give
meaning to their environment.
The Perceptual Process
1. Sensation
 An individual’s ability to detect stimuli in the immediate environment.
2. Selection
 The process a person uses to eliminate some of the stimuli that have been sensed and to retain others
for further processing.
3. Organization
 The process of placing selected perceptual stimuli into a framework for “storage.”
4. Translation
 The stage of the perceptual process at which stimuli are interpreted and given meaning.
Perceptual Process

Receiving Stimulius Selecting Stimuli

External & internal External factors : Nature,
Location, Size, contrast,
Movement, repetition, similarity
Internal factors : Learning,
needs, age, Interest,

Interpreting
Attribution ,Stereotyping,
Halo Effect, Projection Organizing
Figure Background ,
Perceptual Grouping
Response (similarity, proximity, closure, continuity)
Covert: Attitudes,
Motivation,
Feeling, Overt: Behavior

Factors influencing perception

A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors can reside in the
perceiver, in the object or target being perceived or in the context of the situation in which the perception is
made.
Factors in the perceiver Factors in the situation Factors in the Target

Attitudes Time Novelty

Motives Work Setting Motion

Interests Social Setting Sounds

Experience size

Expectations background

Proximity Similarity etc

Perceptual organization
It is the process by which we group outside stimuli into recognizable and identifiable patterns and whole
objects.
Certain factors are considered to be important contributors on assembling, organizing and categorizing
information in the human brain. These are
- Figure ground
- Perceptual grouping