PubMed Health⌕ Search

PubMed · 10743386

Depth motion sensitivity functions.

Abstract

Functions reliably describing perception of motion in depth have been established experimentally by using psychophysical methods of size and distance estimations and threshold measurements. The stimuli were generated with a new hybrid technique yielding an image refresh rate of 1667 Hz. In this way it was possible to generate rapid expansions and contractions of the moving checkerboard pattern constituting the stimulus for depth motion perception. The results showed that perceived size constancy as well as depth impression varied with oscillation frequency. Under the conditions of slow motions (oscillation frequencies around 2 Hz), perfect size constancy was obtained. Above that limit, size constancy systematically decreased, and with oscillation frequencies of about 5 Hz the perceived size constancy was close to zero when small-sized patterns were used. Under the conditions of wide field stimulation (when the pattern subtended 66 degrees of visual angle), the cut-off limit increased to 16 Hz. Since the perception of depth motion amplitudes as well as perceived velocities of the visual object are related to perceived size constancy, the findings have certain implications for theoretical explanations of depth motion perception.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

S Eriksson. 2000. Depth motion sensitivity functions.. https://doi.org/10.1007/pl00008167

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

Phantom surface captures stereopsis.

A phantom surface is a stereoscopic illusory area that can be seen in depth although there is no conventional stereoscopic cues [Liu, L., Stevenson, S.B., & Schor, C.M. (1994). Quantitative stereoscopic depth without binocular correspondence. Nature, 367, 66-69; Gillam, B. & Nakayama, K. (1999). Quantitative depth for a phantom surface can be based on cyclopean occlusion cues alone. Vision Research, 39, 109-112]. The phenomenon has been explained as an example of half-occlusion processing in which the visual system uses information about cyclopean occlusion structure of the visual world. We created stereo capture stereograms in which phantom surfaces changed the perceived depth of conventionally defined binocular textures. Because conventional stereoscopic matching is strongly affected by half-occlusion processing, we suggest that half-occlusion processing is an integral part of the early stereoscopic processing and solving of the correspondence problem.

Depth Perception↗

Simulated self-motion alters perceived time to collision.

Many authors have assumed that motor actions required for collision avoidance and for collision achievement (for example, in driving a car or hitting a ball) are guided by monitoring the time to collision (TTC), and that this is done on the basis of moment-to-moment values of the optical variable tau [1] [2] [3]. This assumption has also motivated the search for single neurons that fire when tau is a certain value [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]. Almost all of the laboratory studies and all the animal experiments were restricted to the case of stationary observer and moving object. On the face of it, this would seem reasonable. Even though humans and other animals routinely perform visually guided actions that require the TTC of an approaching object to be estimated while the observer is moving, tau provides an accurate estimate of TTC regardless of whether the approach is produced by self-motion, object-motion or a combination of both. One might therefore expect that judgements of TTC would be independent of self-motion. We report here, however, that simulated selfmotion using a peripheral flow field substantially altered estimates of TTC for an approaching object, even though the peripheral flow field did not affect the value of tau for the approaching object. This finding points to long range interactions between collision-sensitive visual neurons and neural mechanisms for processing self-motion.

Depth Perception↗