Studies have reported a right visual field (RVF) advantage for coherent motion detection by deaf and hearing signers but not non-signers. Yet two studies [Bosworth R. G., & Dobkins, K. R. (2002). Visual field asymmetries for motion processing in deaf and hearing signers. "Brain and Cognition," 49, 170-181; Samar, V. J., & Parasnis, I. (2005).…

Highlighting current literature concerning infants' ability to perceive motion, this paper discusses the sensory apparatus that makes motion perception possible. Reviews of the physiology, anatomy, and sensory capabilities of the infant's visual system, as well as a discussion of the neural physiological mechanisms that govern the visual system,…

Two experiments examined the effects of common motion, background texture, and orientation on four-month olds' perception of unity of a partially occluded rod. Results indicated that infants' perception of object unity is not dependent on a single visual cue but on a variety of cues including motion, interposition, depth cues, background texture,…

Compared the postural responsiveness of seven-, eight-, and nine-month-old infants. Results indicated greater use of optic flow for postural control after a self-produced locomotor experience. Infants with endogenous (creeping) or artificial (walker) self-produced locomotor experience responded to portions of the optic flow field, whereas…

Investigates the psychological representation of visual-gestural languages from a cross-linguistic perspective. The perception of signers of American and Chinese Sign Languages is analyzed. (27 references) (Author/VWL)

Assessed infants' detection of relative motion between a target and its surrounding static reference features in two experiments. Found evidence for 8- and 20-week-olds' detection of a moving target, and a target and surrounding reference features moving in opposite directions. Twenty-week-olds detected a target that moved faster and in the same…

Seven experiments involving a total of 203 college students explored a form of object-specific priming and established a robust object-specific benefit that indicates that a new stimulus will be named faster if it physically matches a previous stimulus seen as part of the same perceptual object. (SLD)

The authors investigated the role of perceptual attunement in an emergency braking task in which participants waited until the last possible moment to slam on the brakes. Effects of the size of the approached object and initial speed on the initiation of braking were used to identify the optical variables on which participants relied at various…

During locomotion, retinal flow, gaze angle, and vestibular information can contribute to one's perception of self-motion. Their respective roles were investigated during active steering: Retinal flow and gaze angle were biased by altering the visual information during computer-simulated locomotion, and vestibular information was controlled…

Children's and adolescents' responses to some nonmimetic figures of motion showed that the figures become more effective in indicating direction of motion as age increases; however, at a given age, some are much less effective than others. As indicators of speed, some figures are intrinsically more effective than others. (Author/RM)

A large body of data is reviewed to support a new theory of motion perception described by S. Grossberg and M. E. Rudd (1989). The Motion Boundary Contour System is used to explain classical and recent data about motion perception that have not been explained by other models. (SLD)

Examined exogenous orienting among infants between 7 and 21 weeks of age in 2 experiments using display with multiple potential attention targets. Found that as early as 7 weeks of age, sensitivity for a small moving stimulus can be significantly influenced by the simultaneous presence of competing attention targets. Found large increases in…