Similarity in motion binds and bends judgments of aspect ratio

We investigated whether the visual system quickly shifts between attractive and repulsive distortions when the grouping state between a pair of shapes changes on a moment-to-moment basis. Observers viewed a pair of ellipses that differed in terms of how flat or tall they were and reported the aspect ratio of one ellipse from the pair. Each ellipse was defined by a cloud of coherently moving dots, and the dots within the two ellipses had either the same or different directions of motion, varying from trial to trial. We found that reports of the cued ellipse’s aspect ratio were repelled from the aspect ratio of the uncued ellipse when the shapes had different directions of motion compared to when they had the same direction of motion.

本研究旨在探讨视觉系统在形状对之间的分组状态在每一瞬间发生改变时，是否能够迅速地在吸引力和排斥力扭曲之间进行切换。观察者被要求观察一对椭圆，它们在扁平或高矮方面存在差异，并报告其中一颗椭圆的纵横比。每个椭圆由一组协调运动的点定义，而这两个椭圆内的点在每一试验中要么具有相同的运动方向，要么具有不同的运动方向。我们发现，当形状具有不同的运动方向时，对提示椭圆的纵横比报告受到排斥，这与形状具有相同运动方向时的报告形成对比。