Covert orienting of attention and the perception of heading

Knowing where we're heading--when nothing moves

Past research indicates that observers rely strongly on flow-based and object-based motion information for determining egomotion or direction of heading. More recently, it has been shown that they also rely on displacement information that does not induce motion perception. As yet, little is known regarding the specific displacement cues that are used for heading estimation. In Experiment 1a, we show that the accuracy of heading estimates increases, as more displacement cues are available. In Experiments 1b and 2, we show that observers rely mostly on the displacement of objects and geometric cues for estimating heading. In Experiment 3, we show that the accuracy of detecting changes in heading when displacement cues are used is low. The results are interpreted in terms of two systems that may be available for estimating heading, one relying on movement information and providing navigational mechanisms, the other relying on displacement information and providing navigational planning and orienting mechanisms.