Motion displaces population receptive fields in the direction opposite to motion

Motion signals can bias the perceived position of visual stimuli. While the apparent position of a stimulus is biased in the direction of motion, electro-physiological studies have shown that the receptive field (RF) of neurons is shifted in the direction opposite to motion, at least in cats and macaque monkeys. In humans, it remains unclear how motion signals affect population RF (pRF) estimates. We addressed this question using psychophysical measurements and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 7 Tesla. We systematically varied two factors: the motion direction of the carrier pattern (inward, outward and flicker motion) and the contrast of the mapping stimulus (low and high stimulus contrast). We observed that while physical positions were identical across all conditions, presence of low-contrast motion, but not high-contrast motion, shifted perceived stimulus position in the direction of motion. Correspondingly, we found that pRF estimates in early visual cortex were shifted against the direction of motion for low-contrast stimuli but not for high stimulus contrast. We offer an explanation in form of a model for why apertures are perceptually shifted in the direction of motion even though pRFs shift in the opposite direction.