The reverse motion illusion in random dot motion displays and implications for understanding development

Catherine Manning; Kimberly Meier; Deborah Giaschi

doi:10.47691/joi.v3.7916

Catherine Manning School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK; and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6862-2525
Kimberly Meier Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle WA, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7070-0753
Deborah Giaschi Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC, Canada http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6862-2525

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47691/joi.v3.7916

Keywords: visual development, motion processing, motion coherence, individual differences, motion illusion, opposite-direction perception, 180-degree errors

Abstract

Across two independent developmental labs, we have been puzzled by the observation that a small proportion of our child and adult participants consistently report perceiving motion in the direction opposite to that presented in random dot motion displays, sometimes even when the motion is at 100% coherence. In this review, we first draw together existing reports of misperceptions of motion direction in random dot displays across observers in a small percentage of trials, before reporting evidence of consistent reverse motion perception in a minority of observers, including previously unreported observations from our own studies of visual development. We consider possible explanations for this reverse motion illusion, including motion induction, motion energy, correspondence noise and spatial undersampling. However, more work is required to understand the individual differences relating to this percept. We suggest that errors in perceived motion direction are likely to be more widespread than can be currently gleaned from the literature and explain why systematic study is needed, especially in children. Finally, we list some remaining open questions and call for collaborative efforts to document this phenomenon and stimulate future investigation.

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