Chapter 8: Perceiving Motion

Throughout reading Chapter 8, Perceiving Motion, I learned how we typically act in our daily lives. As humans, we are constantly acting, either dramatically such as riding a bike or routinely, as in reaching for a coffee cup or walking across the room. Whatever form of action takes, it involves motion, and one of the things that makes the study of motion perception fascinating and challenging is that we are not simply passive observers of the motion of others, we often move ourselves. We as well perceive motion while being stationary, as when watching someone cross the street. Motion perception has many different functions, ranging from helping us perceive things such as shapes of objects to providing us with updates about what is happening. Our motion is an important aspect of object recognition because it reveals information about objects that might otherwise be different to discern. Looking at figure 8.2 in our book it is difficult at first to see the animals because they blend in with the other objects on the picture. When the picture is
For example, if I am standing in a crowd of people and have no idea where to go, but suddenly you see someone waving and quickly recognize that it is your friend. Without thinking, your natural response is to respond to whatever is happening. Combining attentional capture to figure 8.2, we can see that not only is a still animal more likely to maintain its camouflage, it is also less likely to be noticed because freezing in place eliminates the attention and attracting effects of movements. Much of what you observe involves information provided by motion. The gestures of the people in a group indicated the intensity of their conversation. For example, when I am in a dance class and learning a phrase from the professor, my attention is directed to what she is doing and how she is doing it. By doing so, I can perform the phrase