Increased Motion Linking Across Edges with Decreased Luminance Contrast, Edge Width and Duration

Accurate interpretations of image require the segmentation of motion signals produced by different objects with the simultaneous integration of motion signals produced by the same object. We investigated a motion integration paradigm in which the direction of an object's motion could only be determined from an integration of motion signals across the disconnected object edges. In a series of experiments we show that observers' ability to determine object motion depends significantly upon stimulus duration, luminance contrast and edge width. These effects suggest that the visual system, after some delay, relies upon relatively thick, luminance defined contour discontinuities to segment moving images.