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Visual search for motion-in-depth: stereomotion does not 'pop out' from disparity noise

Nature Neuroscience volume 1, pages 165–168 (1998)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 August 1998

Abstract

In a visual search task, targets defined by motion or binocular disparity stand out effortlessly from stationary distractors (`pop-out'), suggesting that target and distractors are processed by different neural mechanisms. We used pop-out to explore whether motion directly toward or away from the observer (z-motion) is detected using binocular motion cues. A target moving laterally (x-motion) popped out amid stationary distractors with binocular disparity, but z-motion did not pop out. However, a small x-motion added to the target's z-motion caused it to pop out. We therefore suggest that the visual system may not be specifically sensitive to binocular motion differences.

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Figure 1: Experimental design.
Figure 2: Percent correct for detecting the interval containing the moving target dot for two observers, SPM and SNW.
Figure 3: Percent correct as a function of the number of distractors for x-motion amid 2D distractors (○) and z-motion amid 3D distractors (•).
Figure 4: Percent correct as a function of the number of distractors in three experimental conditions for two observers.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Bruce Cumming, Simon Rushton, Harvey Smallman, Jane Sumnall and Preeti Verghese for comments on the manuscript. The work was supported by a UK MRC grant G9533618N to JMH and AFOSR grant F49620-95-1-0265 to SPM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Ridley Building, Claremont Place, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

    Julie M. Harris

  2. The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, 2232 Webster St., San Francisco, 94115, California, USA

    Suzanne P. McKee

  3. Department of Psychology, Wright State University, Dayton, 45435, Ohio, USA

    Scott N. J. Watamaniuk

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  1. Julie M. Harris
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  2. Suzanne P. McKee
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  3. Scott N. J. Watamaniuk
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Correspondence to Julie M. Harris.

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Harris, J., McKee, S. & Watamaniuk, S. Visual search for motion-in-depth: stereomotion does not 'pop out' from disparity noise. Nat Neurosci 1, 165–168 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/418

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