Vertical asymmetries in pre-attentive detection of changes in motion direction

Abstract

Stimulus localization affects visual motion processing. Vertical asymmetries favouring lower visual field have been reported in event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioural studies under different attention conditions. However, there are no studies examining such asymmetries to non attended motion changes. The present study investigated whether the asymmetry in processing information from the upper and lower visual fields also affects the automatic detection of motion-direction changes as indexed by visual Mismatch Negativity (vMMN). We recorded vMMN to changes in sinusoidal gratings differing in motion direction presented in the periphery of visual field in three different locations: upper and lower (ULVF), upper (UVF) and lower (LVF) along the vertical meridian. The N2 component elicited to peripheral motion presented lower amplitudes when the UVF was stimulated. The vMMN elicited to infrequent motion-direction changes was present in all stimulation conditions. However, it was reduced to UVF stimulation. These results suggest that the visual system automatically detects motion-direction changes presented at both upper–lower visual fields; however they also indicate that the process is favoured when stimuli are presented in the LVF alone.