Influence of viewing distance on aftereffects of moving random pixel arrays

Viewing-distance invariance of visual perception has evolutionary advantages, but it is of necessity limited by spatial and temporal resolution. Even within these resolution limits viewing-distance invariance might not be perfect or even good, but there are remarkably few studies of its precise limits. Here we ask to what extent viewing-distance invariance holds for motion aftereffects (MAEs). There are (at least) two different MAEs: one can be seen on a static test pattern (sMAE) and is tuned to low speeds, the other only becomes manifest on a dynamic noise test stimulus (dMAE) and is sensitive to higher adaptation speeds. We show that each of these MAEs has a limited viewing-distance invariance, the dMAE only for higher screen-speeds and the sMAE only for lower screen-speeds. In both cases upper angular-speed limits shift to higher values for smaller viewing-distances (lower spatial frequencies, larger fields). This upper limit is constant, independent of viewing distance, if expressed in terms of screen-speed. On the other hand the lower speed limit is fixed in angular-speed and variable in screen-speed terms. Explanations for these findings are provided. We show that there is no fixed optimum viewing-distance or optimum angular stimulus-size for either of the two MAEs.

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