Extending Phase Mechanism to Differential Motion Opponency for Motion Pop-out

We extend the concept of phase tuning, a ubiquitous mechanism among sensory neurons including motion and disparity selective neurons, to the motion contrast detection. We demonstrate that the motion contrast can be detected by phase shifts between mo tion neuronal responses in different spatial regions. By constructing the differential motion opponency in response to motions in two different spatial regions, varying motion contrasts can be detected, where similar motion is detected by zero phase shifts and differences in motion by nonzero phase shifts. The model can exhibit either enhancement or suppression of respons es by either different or similar motion in the surrounding. A primary advantage of the model is that the responses are selective to relative motion instead of absolute motion, which could model neurons found in neurop hysiological experiments responsible for motion pop-out detection.