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Learning stereo disparity using temporal smoothness constraints: a computational model.

An unsupervised learning algorithm is presented for learning stereo disparity. A key assumption is that surface depth varies smoothly over time. This assumption is consistent with a learning rule which maximizes the long-term variance of each unit's outputs, whilst simultaneously minimizing its short-term variance. The learning rule involves a linear combination of anti-Hebbian and Hebbian weight changes, over short and long time scales, respectively. The model is demonstrated on a hyperacuity task: estimating sub-pixel stereo disparity from a temporal sequence of stereograms. The algorithm generalizes, without additional learning, to previously unseen image sequences.

Algorithms↗

Does depth perception require vertical-disparity detectors?

Stereo depth perception depends on the fact that objects project to different positions in the two eyes. Because our eyes are offset horizontally, these retinal disparities are mainly horizontal, and horizontal disparity suffices to give an impression of depth. However, depending on eye position, there may also be small vertical disparities. These are significant because, given both vertical and horizontal disparities, the brain can deduce eye position from purely retinal information and, hence, derive the position of objects in space. However, we show here that, to achieve this, the brain need measure only the magnitude of vertical disparity; for physically possible stimuli, the sign then follows from the stereo geometry. The magnitude of vertical disparity--and hence eye position--can be deduced from the response of purely horizontal-disparity sensors because vertical disparity moves corresponding features off the receptive fields, reducing the effective binocular correlation. As proof, we demonstrate an algorithm that can accurately reconstruct gaze and vergence angles from the population activity of pure horizontal-disparity sensors and show that it is subject to the induced effect. Given that disparities experienced during natural viewing are overwhelmingly horizontal and that eye position measures require only horizontal-disparity sensors, this work raises two questions: Does the brain in fact contain sensors tuned to nonzero vertical disparities, and if so, why?

Algorithms↗

Asymmetries and errors in perception of depth from disparity suggest a multicomponent model of disparity processing.

In three experiments, asymmetries between the processing of crossed and uncrossed disparities were investigated. The target was a luminance-defined circle concentric to a fixation mark, viewed stereoscopically on a computer monitor for 105 msec. Fifteen disparities were presented according to the method of constant stimuli. Observers indicated the apparent direction of target depth relative to fixation. All experiments measured both the accuracy and latency of this response. Experiment 1 showed fewer errors and shorter reaction times for identifying crossed disparities. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated Experiment 1 and also showed that observers may often perceive a target in the direction opposite that prescribed by the disparity information. We propose that the asymmetries and reversals result from differences in computation of sign, not of magnitude. This notion is consistent with a scheme of continuous disparity tuning and accounts for such asymmetries and errors without positing disparity pooling mechanisms.

Adult↗

Heterophoria and fixation disparity: a review.

Heterophoria does not provide a reliable clue for ordering prisms in an asthenopic patient. The same reservation applies to associated phoria, as determined by prism correction of fixation disparity. Subjective tests for fixation disparity, even those with a fusionable fixation target, do not correctly indicate the vergence position of the eyes under natural viewing conditions. Attempts to measure fixation disparity on the basis of stereo disparity, using the "Measuring and Correction Methods of H.-J. Haase", have failed.

Eyeglasses↗

Disparity-evoked vergence is driven by interocular correlation.

Disparity-evoked vergence is studied in stereograms showing one or two depth planes which are defined by isolated dots of varying density and contrast. Vergence position immediately after stimulus presentation was measured using dichoptic nonius lines. Since the stimulus was not visible after the onset of the vergence movement, the experiment accesses the initiation of vergence rather than its eventual result. In the unequivocal stimuli (one depth plane), elicited vergence tends to reduce disparity. Disparities of 0.5-1 deg are most effective which is in accordance with earlier findings. If two depth planes are presented, elicited vergence lies between the two planes, approaching the plane with higher dot density and/or dot contrast. In quantitative measurements, we show that the depth-averaging mechanism uses signal power per depth plane as a weight. Therefore, the relative pulling strength of dot density compared with dot contrast follows a power law with exponent 2. We propose a population code for vergence control based on disparity-tuned pools of units.

Adult↗

Spatial and temporal tuning of motion in depth.

We used the Pulfrich effect to investigate perception of motion in depth. Independent manipulation of spatial and temporal frequency content in stereoscopic motion stimuli revealed the tuning characteristics of motion-in-depth perception. Sensitivity to interocular phase difference between sinusoidally oscillating sine-wave gratings was measured in four observers who judged direction of motion in depth. Discrimination thresholds in terms of interocular phase difference were determined to investigate spatial and temporal tuning characteristics of a system that is based on interocular phase difference, interocular delay, binocular disparity and velocity difference. Temporal frequency tuning of interocular phase difference thresholds was band pass and relatively dependent on spatial frequency variation. These results together with evidence from two control experiments support the idea that sensitivity to direction of motion in depth is limited by a stereo-motion system that monitors binocular horizontal disparity and motion rather than interocular phase difference, interocular delay, or interocular velocity difference.

Computer Simulation↗

Adaptation to disparity but not to perceived depth.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether adaptation can occur to disparity per se. The adapting stimuli were large random-dot patterns of which the two half-images were transformed such that the depth effects induced by the vertical transformations were nulled by horizontal transformations. Thus, the adapting stimuli were perceptually the same, whereas the disparity fields differed from each other. The adapting stimuli were presented for five minutes. During that period, the percept of a fronto-parallel surface did not change. After the adapting period, subjects perceived a thin untransformed strip as either slanted or curved depending on the adapting transformation. The thin strips provided negligible information about the vertical disparity field. In a forced-choice task we measured the amount of horizontal transformation that was required to null the acquired adaptation. We found that the amounts of horizontal transformation required to perceive the test strip fronto-parallel were significantly different from zero. We conclude that the visual system can adapt to disparity signals in the absence of a perceptual drive.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Surmised state of accommodation to stereoscopic three-dimensional images with binocular disparity.

Three-dimensional image (3-D image) was experimentally generated by the binocular disparity principle, and psychological tests were performed in relation to the state of accommodation. An image of a square formed by the time-sharing system using liquid crystal (LC) shutter glasses was displayed before the CRT screen (forward image) by the crossed visual-line method and behind the monitor screen (backward image) by the non-crossed visual-line method. The subjects were requested to subjectively compare each image with the original image on the CRT screen in relation to the size. The forward image displayed by the crossed visual lines looked smaller than the original image, while the backward image displayed by the non-crossed visual lines looked larger. In consideration of the developmental mechanism of micropsia occurring in patients with accommodative palsy or paresis of accommodation and macropsia occurring in patients with accomodative spasm, it was surmised that, in the generation of 3-D image due to binocular disparity, accommodation works so that the original image position is maintained.

Accommodation, Ocular↗

Integration of retinal disparity and fixation-distance related signals toward an egocentric coding of distance in the posterior parietal cortex of primates.

For those movements that are directed toward objects located in extrapersonal space, it is necessary that visual inputs are first remapped from a retinal coordinate system to a body-centered one. The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) most likely integrates retinal and extraretinal information to determine the egocentric distance of an object located in three-dimensional (3-D) space. This determination requires both a retinal disparity signal and a parallel estimate of the fixation distance. We recorded from the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) to see if single neurons respond to both vergence angle and retinal disparity and if these two signals are integrated to encode egocentric distance. Monkeys were trained to make saccades to real targets in 3-D space. When both fixation distance and disparity of visual stimuli were varied, the disparity tuning of individual neurons display a fixation-distance modulation. We propose that the observed modulation contributes to a spatial coding domain intermediate between retinal and egocentric because the disparity tuning shifts in a systematic way with changes in fixation distance.

Action Potentials↗

M pathway and areas 44 and 45 are involved in stereoscopic recognition based on binocular disparity.

We characterized the visual pathways involved in the stereoscopic recognition of the random dot stereogram based on the binocular disparity employing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The V2, V3, V4, V5, intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and the superior temporal sulcus (STS) were significantly activated during the binocular stereopsis, but the inferotemporal gyrus (ITG) was not activated. Thus a human M pathway may be part of a network involved in the stereoscopic processing based on the binocular disparity. It is intriguing that areas 44 (Broca's area) and 45 in the left hemisphere were also active during the binocular stereopsis. However, it was reported that these regions were inactive during the monocular stereopsis. To separate the specific responses directly caused by the stereoscopic recognition process from the nonspecific ones caused by the memory load or the intention, we designed a novel frequency labeled tasks (FLT) sequence. The functional MRI using the FLT indicated that the activation of areas 44 and 45 is correlated with the stereoscopic recognition based on the binocular disparity but not with the intention artifacts, suggesting that areas 44 and 45 play an essential role in the binocular disparity.

Adult↗

Occlusion, transparency, and stereopsis: a new explanation for stereo capture.

Stereo capture occurs when a regular pattern of repeating elements with zero disparity is superimposed on a disparate subjective figure. The elements enclosed within the subjective contours, but not those outside them, are perceptually captured and pulled on the same depth plane of the disparate figure. The phenomenon has been interpreted as the result either of a spreading of disparity signals from the subjective figure or of the attribution of the depth of certain salient image features to the finer texture elements enclosed in them. We suggest here that, instead, the fact that stereo capture is limited to the texture elements lying within the boundaries of the subjective figure is simply due to ambiguous occlusion information at the monocular level. When the texture elements occlude the inducers of the subjective figure as well, the elements lying outside the boundaries of the subjective figure are also captured. We propose that stereo capture arises as the solution to a conflict between information provided by retinal disparity and occlusion, and show how this effect is related to other previously observed phenomena of conflicting cues to depth.

Cues↗

Analysis of stereothresholds for stimuli below 2.5 c/deg.

We analyze published data on disparity detection thresholds for a wide range of conditions. This type of detection changes behavior dramatically at the spatial frequency of 2.5 c/deg; above this frequency threshold remains constant while below it threshold grows at a uniform rate. Many other types of threshold, such as upper disparity limits for depth perception and threshold amplitudes for stereo and monocular motion, show similar behavior. These data lead to the postulate that there are no foveal stereo channels peaking below 2.5 c/deg, so that foveal stimuli in the whole range below 2.5 c/deg are processed by a single channel tuned to this frequency. Consequently, disparity detection thresholds at frequencies below this frequency are controlled by the single parameter of effective contrast in the 2.5 c/deg channel, whose output depends jointly on the contrast and spatial frequency of the stimuli. We develop this idea to explain the relations between spatial and contrast tuning functions for disparity thresholds. To validate our conclusions, we describe an experiment with difference-of-Gaussian stimuli over a range of interocular widths and contrast differences. For a dichoptic width ratio of 2:1, the dichoptic contrast ratio required to minimize disparity detection thresholds was 1:4, just as predicted by the model.

Contrast Sensitivity↗

Effects of disparity-perspective cue conflict on depth contrast.

The role of disparity-perspective cue conflict in depth contrast was examined. A central square and a surrounding frame were observed in a stereoscope. Five conditions were compared: (1) only disparity was introduced into either the centre or surround stimulus, (2) only perspective was introduced into the centre or surround, (3) concordant perspective and disparity were introduced into the centre or surround, (4) disparity was introduced into one stimulus and perspective into the other, and (5) only the centre stimulus was presented with horizontal shear disparity and perspective manipulated independently. The results show that individual differences in depth contrast were related to individual differences in the weighting of disparity and perspective in the single-stimulus conditions. We conclude that conflict between disparity and perspective contributes to depth contrast. However, significant depth contrast occurred when there was no disparity-perspective cue conflict, indicating that this cue conflict is not the sole mechanism producing depth contrast.

Adult↗

Response latencies to visual stimulation and disparity sensitivity in single cells of the awake Macaca mulatta visual cortex.

The onset response latencies to dynamic random dot figures (solid figures) and dynamic random dot stereograms were measured in single units recorded from areas V1 and V2 of two awake Macaca mulatta monkeys. We studied 56 cells, 39 from V1 and 17 from V2. In 14 disparity sensitive and 13 disparity unsensitive cells from V1 the median latencies to solid figures were 59.8 and 73.6 ms, respectively, which were statistically different. In 26 disparity sensitive cells from V1 and 17 from V2 the median latencies to stereofigures were 85.6 and 97.9 ms, respectively, which were statistically different. These results indicate that V1 disparity sensitive cells may have shorter integration time than disparity unsensitive cells and that there is a transferring delay for disparity information between areas V1 and V2.

Action Potentials↗

The Pulfrich pendulum phenomenon in stereoblind subjects.

The Pulfrich pendulum phenomenon, in which a pendulum swinging in the frontoparallel plane appears to swing in an ellipse when a neutral density filter is placed over one eye of the observer, was investigated in stereoblind subjects. It was found that such subjects can report the presence of the Pulfrich effect although they fail to fuse random-dot stereograms and fail to exhibit interocular transfer of the movement aftereffect. These findings suggest that 'stereoblind' subjects must retain some residual binocular mechanism for depth perception. Three possibilities are considered: (i) the stereoblind may be able to utilise contiguous temporal disparities as a cue for depth in the Pulfrich effect; (ii) they may retain some residual binocularity, sufficient to reveal the Pulfrich effect but not for other more demanding tasks for the binocular mechanisms; and (iii) they may retain some coarse magnocellular pathway disparity mechanism having lost their high-acuity parvocellular disparity system. There is little evidence to support any of these hypotheses, but the third shows promise.

Depth Perception↗

Macaque V2 neurons, but not V1 neurons, show choice-related activity.

In the macaque extrastriate cortex, robust correlations between perceptual choice and neuronal response have been demonstrated, frequently quantified as choice probabilities (CPs). Such correlations are modest in early visual cortex, suggesting that CPs may depend on the position of a neuron in the hierarchy of visual processing. However, previous studies have not compared neurons with similar precision in equivalent tasks. We investigated the role of cortical hierarchy on CP using a task for which significant CPs have been described previously for middle temporal area (MT). We measured CPs in disparity-selective neurons from both V1 and V2. The stimulus was a dynamic random dot stereogram, presented with a near or a far disparity, masked by varying numbers of binocularly uncorrelated dots. Two macaque monkeys reported whether they perceived a circular patch in front or behind a surrounding annulus in a forced choice task. For V2 (n = 69), CP was on average 0.56, the first demonstration of systematic CPs in a visual area as early as V2. In V1 (n = 74), average CP was at chance level (0.51). The pattern was similar in a subgroup of neurons selected such that the statistical precision in the task was on average identical to that reported for MT (mean CP, 0.51 for V1, n = 33; 0.58 for V2, n = 54). This difference between V1 and V2 could not be explained by eye movements, stimulus size relative to the receptive field, or differences in disparity tuning. Rather, it seems to reflect a functional difference (at least in disparity processing) between striate and extrastriate cortex.

Action Potentials↗

How to "hear" visual disparities: real-time stereoscopic spatial depth analysis using temporal resonance.

In a stereoscopic system, both eyes or cameras have a slightly different view. As a consequence, small variations between the projected images exist ('disparities') which are spatially evaluated in order to retrieve depth information (Sanger 1988; Fleet et al. 1991). A strong similarity exists between the analysis of visual disparities and the determination of the azimuth of a sound source (Wagner and Frost 1993). The direction of the sound is thereby determined from the temporal delay between the left and right ear signals (Konishi and Sullivan 1986). Similarly, here we transpose the spatially defined problem of disparity analysis into the temporal domain and utilize two resonators implemented in the form of causal (electronic) filters to determine the disparity as local temporal phase differences between the left and right filter responses. This approach permits real-time analysis and can be solved analytically for a step function contrast change, which is an important case in all real-world applications. The proposed theoretical framework for spatial depth retrieval directly utilizes a temporal algorithm borrowed from auditory signal analysis. Thus, the suggested similarity between the visual and the auditory system in the brain (Wagner and Frost 1993) finds its analogy here at the algorithmical level. We will compare the results from the temporal resonance algorithm with those obtained from several other techniques like cross-correlation or spatial phase-based disparity estimation showing that the novel algorithm achieves performances similar to the 'classical' approaches using much lower computational resources.

Algorithms↗

Architecture of binocular disparity processing in monkey inferior temporal cortex.

Neurons in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex respond not only to the shape, color or texture of objects, but to the horizontal positional disparity of visual features in the right and left retinal images. IT neurons with similar shape selectivity cluster in columns. In this study, we examined how IT neurons are spatially arranged in the IT according to their selectivity for binocular disparity. With a single electrode, we simultaneously recorded extracellular action potentials from a single neuron and those from background multiple neurons at the same sites or recorded multineuronal responses at successive sites along electrode penetrations, while monkeys performed a fixation task. For neurons at each recording site, effective shapes were first determined from a set of 20 shapes presented at the zero-disparity plane. The most effective shape was then presented with varying amounts of disparity. Single neuron responses and background multiunit responses recorded at the same sites showed a similar ability of disparity discrimination and tended to share the preferred disparity, suggesting that neurons with similar disparity selectivity are clustered in the IT. We estimated from sequential recordings along electrode penetrations that the size of the neuronal clusters with similar disparity selectivity was smaller than the size of clusters with similar shape selectivity.

Action Potentials↗