Outline Importance of spatial perception Types of Depth cues Kinematic Stereoscopic Oculomotor Pictorial Issues in Spatial Perception Multiple

sources of depth information How do multiple cues interact Depth perception supports other perceptual abilities, such as size perception Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Metrical depth cue: A depth cue that provides quantitative information about distance in the third dimension Nonmetrical depth cue: A depth cue that provides information about the depth order (relative depth) but not depth magnitude Oculomotor Information Oculomotor means having to do with eye Muscles Oculomotor cues Accommodation: The process by which the eye changes its focus (in which the lens gets fatter as gaze is directed toward nearer objects) Convergence: The ability of the two eyes to turn inward, often used to focus on nearer objects Divergence: The ability of the two eyes to turn outward, often used to focus on farther objects

Accommodation refers to changes in the shape of the lens to achieve focused images at varying distances. Accommodation may provide distance information via unconscious sensing of the muscular movements (in the ciliary muscles) that produce the lens changes. Convergence refers to the turning of the two eyes to get a particular point in the center of fixation (fovea) of each eye. Convergence provides depth information via unconscious sensing of the muscular movements used to turn the eyes.

Accommodation and convergence: about 2 meters of distance. Sometimes this is called "near space. These cues potentially provide absolute distance information. Oculomotor Information What does the system need to know in order to get absolute distance from convergence? Pictorial Information Definition: Pictorial refers to depth cues that can operate in flat pictures. They are all also monocular cues, in that they can operate when you view with only one eye. Some pictorial cues were discovered by artists. Most pictorial cues relate to rules of optics and geometry that govern the projection of the world onto the retina. Pictorial Information Definition: Pictorial refers to depth cues that can operate in flat pictures. They are all also monocular cues, in that they can operate when you view with only one eye. Some pictorial cues were discovered by artists. Most pictorial cues relate to rules of optics and geometry that govern the projection of the world onto the retina. Use of pictorial cues for depth perception involves using the rules of projection in reverse. Laws of Optics: Scene Retina Inverse Optics: Retina Scene Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Occlusion: A cue to relative depth order in which, for example, one object obstructs the view of part of another object

Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Texture gradient: A depth cue based on the geometric fact that items of the same size form smaller images when they are farther away Texture gradients result from a combination of the cues of relative size and relative height Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Relative size: A comparison of size between items without knowing the absolute size of either one All things being equal, we assume that smaller objects are farther away from us than larger objects Relative size is more effective when size changes systematically Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Relative height: Below the horizon, objects higher in the visual field appear to be farther away. Above the horizon, objects lower in the visual field appear to be farther away Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Familiar size: A cue based on knowledge of the typical size of objects Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Relative size and relative height both provide some metrical information Relative metrical depth cue: A depth cue that could specify, for example, that object A is twice as far away as object B without providing information about the absolute distance to either A or B Familiar size can provide precise metrical information if your visual system knows the actual size of the object and the visual angle it takes up on the retina Absolute metrical depth cue: A depth cue that provides quantifiable information about distance in the third dimension The metrical cues of relative size and height can give the visual system more information than a nonmetrical cue like occlusion can

Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Aerial perspective: A depth cue based on the implicit understanding that light is scattered by the atmosphere More light is scattered when we look through more atmosphere Thus, more distant objects appear fainter, bluer, and less distinct Aerial perspective

Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Linear perspective: Lines that are parallel in the three-dimensional world will appear to converge in a two-dimensional image as they extend into the distance Vanishing point: The apparent point at which parallel lines receding in depth converge Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space Pictorial depth cue: A cue to distance or depth used by artists to depict three-dimensional depth in twodimensional pictures Anamorphosis (or anamorphic projection): Use of the rules of linear perspective to create a twodimensional image so distorted that it looks correct only when viewed from a special angle or with a mirror that counters the distortion Different Cues Provide Different Kinds of Information Convergence Accommodation Occlusion Familiar size Motion parallax Relative size Relative height Binocular disparity

metric metric non-metric metric relative metric relative metric relative metric relative metric Multiple Sources of Information: Why? Some provide information about absolute position, whereas others provide information about the relations of objects and surfaces. (Distance vs. Depth) Different sources of information have different operating conditions. Differences in ecological validity among the different cues. Some evidence suggests that the system relies on the cues that provide the best evidence in general or under specific conditions. Ecological validity refers to how accurately a cue specifies some situation in the environment. Roughly speaking, one can get at ecological validity of depth cues by considering how hard it would be to arrange a situation that depicts depth according to the cue, but does not really have depth in the world. Example: A TV show depicts 3-D environments, but the screen is actually flat. Of the 4 categories of depth / distance information, stereoscopic and kinematic have highest ecological validity and pictorial has the weakest. Why do we perceive scene A and not the others? We know from experience that all pennies are the same size. C would correspond to an accidental view, whereas the A and B correspond to the generic views. Why do we perceive scene A and not the others? Therefore, our brain infers scene A because it is more probable. This is what Al-Haytham/Alhazen (11th Century) called unnoticed judgment. And von Helmholtz (19th Century) called unconscious inference. How is the inference made? The unconscious inference can be achieved as follows: The nervous system calculates the probability of each scene given the sensory evidence, and the prior knowledge, and chooses the scene that has the highest probability. Combining Depth Cues The Bayesian Approach, Revisited Like object recognition, depth perception results from the combination of many different cues The Bayesian approach: A way of formalizing the idea that our perception is a combination of the current stimulus and our knowledge about the conditions of the worldwhat is and is not likely to occur Thus, prior knowledge can influence our estimates of the probability of an event Combining Depth Cues

 Ideal observer: A theoretical observer with complete access to the best available information and the ability to combine different sources of information in the optimal manner It can be useful to compare human performance to that of an ideal observer Cue Integration

Cue integration with prior

Combining Depth Cues Illusions and the construction of space Our visual systems take into account depth cues when interpreting the size of objects