Looming motion and visual attention.

Abstract

Motion perception is essential to adapt behavior in a dynamic environment. Many studies have suggested that looming motion captures attention, whereas receding motion does not, highlighting the behavioral urgency of motion perception. The present study examined whether attentional resources can be attracted by a specific directed flow in the presence of multiple flows that are simultaneously displayed in the visual field. The results showed that when two flows of opposite direction (looming and receding) are displayed together, participants more efficiently discriminate the target inside the looming motion. When four flows are presented (one looming and three receding or three looming and one receding), the results showed that the target displayed inside the looming flow was more rapidly identified but also suggest that attention can be attracted by receding motion. This suggests that the process inside a looming flow is more efficient, but this effect could not be attributed to attentional focusing processes.

Trajectory Discrimination and Peripersonal Space Perception in Newborns

“…Several studies in human adults highlighted the importance of perceiving and discriminating approaching trajectories (Abrams & Christ, , ; Cappe, Thut, Romei, & Murray, ; Franconeri & Simons, , ; Ghazanfar, Neuhoff, & Logothetis, ; Neuhoff, , ; Rosenblum, Carello, & Pastore, ; Rosenblum, Wuestefeld, & Saldaña, ; Rossini, ; Seifritz et al., ). These studies used either visual or auditory signals (or a combination of the same) and showed that looming stimuli—which specify impending collision (Howard & Rogers, )—receive a privileged processing.…”

“…For example, research using auditory looming showed that adults systematically underestimate the arrival time of a sound characterized by rising intensity (Rosenblum et al., ), that they perceive rising (i.e., approaching) sounds as closer to themselves compared to falling (i.e., receding) sounds (Rosenblum et al., ), and that they overestimate the change in intensity level of rising vs. falling sounds (Neuhoff, , ). Research that focused on the visual modality also provided evidence of the evolutionary importance of looming stimuli, demonstrating that looming motion can capture attention to a higher extent than receding motion (Abrams & Christ, , ; Franconeri & Simons, , ) and that the processing of looming stimuli is prioritized by the visual system (Rossini, ).…”

“…The purpose of our study was to track the developmental origins of the facilitated processing of approaching stimuli, which is apparent in adults (Abrams & Christ, , ; Cappe et al., ; Franconeri & Simons, , ; Neuhoff, , ; Rosenblum et al., , ; Rossini, ; Seifritz et al., ). In fact, considering the important adaptive features of stimuli approaching one's own body along a colliding pathway—for both defensive and communicative purposes—it would be reasonable to expect that soon after birth infants could be already sensitive to motion along this trajectory.…”

“…Therefore, we suggest that the presence vs. the absence of defensive reactions may not have been the most informative variable to consider when investigating sensitivity to approaching trajectories information in newborn infants, as the discrimination of the different trajectories could be present irrespective of defensive reactions. Indeed, research on optical flow investigated newborns' sensitivity to visual motion information without necessarily attributing a negative valence to it (Barbu-Roth et al, 2009, 2014Jouen, 1990;Jouen, Lepecq, Gapenne, & Bertenthal, 2000). These studies demonstrated that newborns as young as 3 days are sensitive to peripheral optical flow.…”

“…In fact, when presented with bilateral backwards optical flow (which in adults is associated with forward locomotion in a static environment), they perform backwards compensatory head movements, whose speed is sensitive to the speed of the displayed optical flow (Jouen et al, 2000). Another set of studies measured how newborns' stepping reflex is modulated by optical flow (Barbu-Roth et al, 2009, 2014. They suggested the existence at birth of a first form of coupling between air-stepping and visual motion, demonstrated by the enhanced stepping responses to translating vs. rotating or static visual stimuli (Barbu-Roth et al, 2009).…”