Retinal and Extraretinal Information in Movement Perception: How to Invert the Filehne Illusion

Abstract

During a pursuit eye movement made in darkness across a small stationary stimulus, the stimulus is perceived as moving in the opposite direction to the eyes. This so-called Filehne illusion is usually explained by assuming that during pursuit eye movements the extraretinal signal (which informs the visual system about eye velocity so that retinal image motion can be interpreted) falls short. A study is reported in which the concept of an extraretinal signal is replaced by the concept of a reference signal, which serves to inform the visual system about the velocity of the retinae in space. Reference signals are evoked in response to eye movements, but also in response to any stimulation that may yield a sensation of self-motion, because during self-motion the retinae also move in space. Optokinetic stimulation should therefore affect reference signal size. To test this prediction the Filehne illusion was investigated with stimuli of different optokinetic potentials. As predicted, with briefly presented stimuli (no optokinetic potential) the usual illusion always occurred. With longer stimulus presentation times the magnitude of the illusion was reduced when the spatial frequency of the stimulus was reduced (increased optokinetic potential). At very low spatial frequencies (strongest optokinetic potential) the illusion was inverted. The significance of the conclusion, that reference signal size increases with increasing optokinetic stimulus potential, is discussed. It appears to explain many visual illusions, such as the movement aftereffect and center–surround induced motion, and it may bridge the gap between direct Gibsonian and indirect inferential theories of motion perception.