HOW DO WE SEE MOVING OBJECTS

Have you ever imagined how would it be if we couldn’t perceive moving objects. World would have been like stagnant frames. Fortunately, it is not so. We see the train moving, the insect crawling, and numerous other examples. The perception of motion requires the following phenomenon.

1.   The retinal location

2.   Luminance

3.   Presence of reference points in the field of vision

4.   Context and a few more.

We must be aware of the fact that sudden movement, even in the periphery of our vision, are effective in capturing attention. Although, the fact is true that the threshold of motion at the periphery has to be greater than in centre, to be perceived. Quite generally luminance or brightness is directly proportional to the perception of motion of the object. The concepts of reference points come in when talking about more than two objects. When one object is stationary and the other moving we perceive the speed of the object to be ten times more than when the stationary object here is termed as the reference point. The effects of context on the perception of motion are revealed in an experiment by Brown(1935), involving motion transposition effect. It is perceived that velocity of the target tends to be inversely proportional to the size of the framework surrounding it. For example, if we see an aeroplane by standing on the runway (smaller frame), we see it move faster but when it goes far into the sky (larger frame) , we perceive it to move slower than before.