Motion-boundary illusions and their regularization

Abstract

The authors performed several experiments where they made sure that the only cues available to the observer were contour and motion. It turns out that when humans combine information from contour and motion to reconstruct the shape of an object in view, if the results of the two modules-shape from contour and structure from motion-are inconsistent, they totally discard one of the cues and an illusion is experienced. The authors describe examples of such illusions and identify the conditions under which they happen. Finally, they introduce a computational theory for combining contour and motion using the theory of regularization. The theory explains such illusions and predicts many more.<>