The two factors were pursuit (on/off) and 2D planar motion (on/off) (Figure 1A). During 2D planar BKM120 cost motion the entire dot field moved sinusoidally along the vertical and horizontal axes with three or four cycles per trial (randomly assigned, respectively) and with random initial

phases and directions, resulting in smooth sinusoidal 2D planar trajectories of 5 visual degrees in diameter (Figure 1B). During pursuit the otherwise central fixation disc (that contained the task, see below) moved along the same trajectory (also 5° in diameter). When both pursuit and planar motion were “on,” the fixation task moved locked together with the dots, resulting in zero planar retinal motion. The mean (median) dot/pursuit speed was 3.80 (3.80) °/s, and the maximal eccentricity of the fixation disc reached 2.5°. A GLM analysis

of this 2 × 2 factorial design allowed us to separate cortical responses related to the main factors of (1) eye movements (pursuit), (2) objective (2D planar) motion, and their interaction (3) retinal motion. Both (2) 2D planar motion and (3) retinal motion were balanced for conditions with and without pursuit (see Figure 1), and were thus not confounded by effects related to pursuit (such as peripheral motion http://www.selleckchem.com/products/CAL-101.html induced by the screen edges, or potentially less accurate fixation during pursuit). Experiment 2 was identical to experiment 1 but used 1D (horizontal only) trajectories with four cycles per trial (see Figures 1A and 1C), and the speed of the motion trajectory was changed from a sine function to abs(sin(t))(1/3) in order to achieve a more linear velocity profile. The mean (median) dot/pursuit speed was 3.30 (2.3)

°/s. During this experiment, eye movements were recorded inside the scanner. Experiment 3 was identical to experiment 2, but expansion/contraction flow was added to all stimuli, as illustrated in Figure 6A. The flow alternated between contraction and expansion with a period of four cycles per trial (same velocity profile as planar motion), and with matched mean (median) dot speeds for Resminostat pure 3D flow of 3.2 (2.3) °/s [in condition 3D(−/−)]. In each trial, starting directions for left/right and forward/backward motion were determined randomly and independently. The flow simulated forward-backward motion of a 3D dot cloud with a visibility of 0.4–2.40 m distance to the observer, and a simulated maximal (mean) velocity of 0.67 (0.55) m/s. The focus of expansion (FOE) was locked to objective planar motion, i.e., was centered and stationary in conditions 3D(+/−) and 3D(−/−), and moved in 3D(−/+) and 3D(+/+). Eye movements were recorded inside the scanner during this experiment. Experiment 4 was a replication of experiment 2, with the following four additional conditions: (−/+50%), (−/+150%), (+/+50%), and (+/+150%) (see Figure 7A). The percentages refer to the objective motion velocities that were either 50% slower or 50% faster than that of the original (−/+) and (+/+) conditions.