The functional effects of prior motion imagery and motion perception

The functional sensory effects and commonalties between mental imagery of different visual features such as color, form or motion remains largely unknown. Mental imagery of static visual features, including color and orientation, can have a facilitative, priming effect on subsequent perception. However, whether motion imagery can have a similar effect remains unknown. Here we used the binocular rivalry method as a measure of motion mental imagery. After imagining or viewing motion of a particular direction, participants were required to report the dominant motion direction in a brief motion rivalry stimulus. We found that motion imagery can have a facilitative priming effect on subsequent motion rivalry perception, and this effect can be attenuated by concurrent expanding and contracting perceptual motion, but not by static or flickering uniform luminance. Unlike color or orientation imagery, the effect of motion imagery on subsequent rivalry was location independent. We also observed this facilitative priming effect with prior low-contrast perceptual motion, but prior high-contrast motion induced a suppressive effect. Simultaneous imagery and perceptual motion in opposite directions induced priming, while congruent directions did not. Counter to prior findings, these results suggest motion imagery can have a priming effect on perception and that the rivalry method can be used to assess visual motion imagery. These results provide evidence for visual imagery as a multi-feature structure.