ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some conceptually and physiologically feasible mechanisms underlying the detection of spatio-temporal correlation. It discusses the limits imposed on faculties as egocentric orientation and localization, the perception of three-dimensional shape, and the segmentation of the visual field into objects and background on the basis of primitive mechanisms sensitive to spatio-temporal correlation. Consider the ecological significance of the spatiotemporal correlation structure of the retinal image. Purely spatial correlations have an obvious meaning: they define a patch-like structure of the visual field which may be interpreted in terms of the projection of a collection of disjunct spatial entities. It is a relatively simple matter to demonstrate the failure of simple speedometer type mechanisms to account for several phenomena in visual perception. The chapter describes probable values of the parameters of the human motion detection system ascending from the micro up to the macro and global level.
