Motion Aftereffects Without Motion: Engaging the Human Motion   Perception
System With Still Photographs

Jonathan Winawer - Stanford University

A photograph of an action can convey a vivid sense of motion. Does   the
inference of motion from viewing a photograph involve the same   neural and
psychological representations used when viewing physical   motion? In this talk
I will describe a series of experiments testing   whether implied motion is
represented by the same direction-selective   signals involved in the
perception of real motion. These experiments   made use of the motion
aftereffect, a visual motion illusion. We show   that viewing a series of
static photographs with implied motion in a   particular direction can produce
motion aftereffects in the opposite   direction as assessed with real motion
test probes. The transfer of   adaptation from motion depicted in photographs
to real motion   demonstrates that the perception of implied motion activates  
direction-selective circuits that are also involved in processing   real
motion.