TOP-DOWN EFFECTS OF PERCEPTUAL GROUPING ON THE PERCEPTION OF MOTION

Ullman (1979) has proposed a measurement metric, which he termed “affinity." He described affinity as a certain similarity measure between successively presented surfaces as it affects the perception of apparent motion between the surfaces. Later, the concept of “affinity” has been extended; it entails that how the perception of motion within a surface is affected by its grouping strength with adjacent surfaces (Hock and Nichols, 2012). It has been found that the more attributes, that are shared by the adjacent surfaces, the greater the likelihood of their being grouped together. However, Ullman (1979) suggested that the relative affinities of pairs of surfaces could determine the solutions for the motion correspondence problem (when more than one motion path is possible). However, it has remained unknown whether the effects of affinity on solutions to the correspondence problem are due to its effects on a single surface apparent motion strength or pre-selection biases; i.e., the top-down effects of perceptual grouping favoring the perception of motion in one direction as opposed to other competing directions. In the current study, it has been confirmed that motion within a surface is affected by its affinity with adjacent surfaces. The current study also confirmed that affinity has a small, but significant effect on motion strength when motion surfaces are presented in a single surface apparent motion configuration, evidence for top-down effects in which motion strength can be affected by affinity. In motion correspondence problem, affinity affects the perceived motion direction due to competition is consistent with the solution to the motion correspondence problem being affected by the relative affinity-determined strength of competing motion signals. But it is seen that there is strong affinity is due to preselection identity biases. To conclude, in motion correspondence problem, stronger motion is perceived between the two similar surfaces is due to pre-selection biases resulting from the perceptual grouping of surfaces with the greatest affinity; i.e., the top-down effects favoring the perception of motion in one direction as opposed to other competing directions.