Suppression of visible persistence in apparent motion.

Moving stimuli produce less smear than would be expected on the basis of visible persistence lasting 100-150 msec. Two experiments examined the duration of smear as a function of background luminance, target velocity, and duration ofthe display. It was found that smear decreased as background luminance increased, smear increased with velocity, and, as display duration increased from 10 to 160 msec, duration of smear first increased and then decreased. Alternative explanations of the results are considered. It is suggested that smear is actively suppressed by stimulus-initiated inhibitory processes.