Surround-contingent motion aftereffect

•The motion aftereffect (MAE) is contingent upon the shape of the surrounding frames.•The MAE is influenced not only by stimulus features but by their surroundings.•The surround-contingent MAE is not specific to retinal location.•The effect may be mediated by higher stages of the motion-processing pathway.

We investigated whether motion aftereffects (MAE) can be contingent on surroundings. Random dots moving leftward and rightward were presented in alternation. Moving dots were surrounded by an open circle or an open square. After prolonged exposure to these stimuli, MAE were found to be contingent upon the surrounding frames: dots moving in a random direction appeared moving leftward when surrounded by the frame that was presented in conjunction with rightward motion. The effect lasted for 24 h and was observed when adapter and test stimuli were presented not only retinotopically, but also at the same spatiotopic position. Furthermore, the effect was observed even when the adapter and test stimuli were presented at different retinotopic and spatiotopic positions as long as they were presented in the same hemi-field. These results indicate that MAE would be influenced not only by the stimulus features, but also by their surroundings, and they suggest that the surround-contingent MAE might be mediated in the higher stage of the motion processing pathway.