Motion-deblurring in human vision

Abstract

IF photographs are taken of moving objects at slow shutter speeds the images of the objects are blurred. In human vision, however, we are not normally conscious of blur from moving objects despite the fact that the temporal response of the photoreceptors is sluggish1. It has been suggested2,3 that there are motion-deblurring mechanisms specifically to aid the visual system in the analysis of the shape of retinally moving targets. Models of motion deblurring have been influenced by the finding that certain very precise spatial pattern discriminations are unaffected by motion. An example is vernier hyperacuity, in which the observer must detect the direction of offset between two lines with abutting ends. With a stationary stimulus, observers can detect a vernier cue of less than 10 arcsec and acuity is unaffected by retinal-image motion of up to 3 deg−1 (ref. 4). We confirm this finding, but provide evidence against any general deblurring mechanism by showing that another kind of hyperacuity, discrimination of the distance between two parallel lines (spatial interval acuity), is interfered with by motion. This argues against a general deblurring mechanism, such as a neural network 'shifter circuit'3, and we point out that the high level of vernier acuity for moving stimuli is susceptible to an alternative explanation.