Asymmetry in the perception of motion-in-depth

We investigated the anisotropic responses between the detection of motion toward and motion away from the observers with expanding/contracting shaded circles. Our experiments followed visual search paradigm with two exceptions: (1) the stimulus presentation time was fixed for 300 ms and (2) the mean error rates were adopted as a dependent variable. In Experiment 1, targets and distractors were defined by expanding (or contracting) convex/concave circles. Results of Experiment 1 suggested that the human visual system is more sensitive to expanding convex circles (which create the impression of approaching objects) than others. In Experiment 2, the targets and distractors were defined by expanding (or contracting) step gradient (top-lighting/bottom-lighting) circles. The results of Experiment 2 suggest that the anisotropy for the perception of motion-in-depth should not be caused by change of luminance polarity but by change of shading cue.