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Results for “Distance Perception”

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At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Haptic perception of the distance walked when blindfolded.

The ability to detect the distance walked when blindfolded using only haptic information generated by the walking activity was investigated. Participants walked a straight path until told to stop, turned, and attempted to return to their starting point. The path was completely featureless. Counting was prevented. Blindfolded, sighted participants traveled with a long cane or a trained sighted guide. Gait was varied or distorted. In all experiments the return distance was a linear function of the set distance, with some participants giving and some conditions resulting in remarkably sensitive performances. The magnitude of errors was a linear function of step length.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Gravity as a monocular cue for perception of absolute distance and/or absolute size.

When the motion of an object is influenced by gravity (eg free fall, pendulum, wave motion), that influence may provide a cue to computing the absolute distance and/or size of the object. Formal analysis supports the claim that the distance and size of moving objects are generally computable with reference to the gravitational component of motion. Informal evidence from judgments of realism in films is consistent with this gravity-cue hypothesis.

Cues↗
PubMed2001

Applicability of sniffing team observations: experience of field measurements.

Sniffing measurement campaigns are a commonly used technique in Flanders to estimate the impact of an odour emission source. The Department of Organic Chemistry at Ghent University has developed its own sniffing strategy throughout the last ten years. The method uses, in essence, the technique of plotting odour perception areas and calculation of total odour emission rates based on maximum odour perception distance. 566 sniffing measurements, executed from 1990 until 1999 around industrial and agricultural odour sources were collected in a database for statistical analysis. Short-term dispersion modelling was executed using four different models, two of them based on Bultynck-Malet dispersion parameters, and two based on Pasquill dispersion parameters. Results from this analysis demonstrate some causes of variance in calculated emissions and show the fitness of each model. From the results of the sniffing teams, which are expressed as sniffing units (SU) instead of odour units (OU, OUE) to underline the difference in methodological approach, the overall odorous emission can be calculated, using short-term atmospheric dispersion models. In a second step, long-term dispersion models can be used to calculate isopercentile contour plots. According to our experience the short-term atmospheric model is a source of "noise" in the method since calculated standard deviations on calculated emissions are larger than standard deviations in the observed maximum distance for odour perception. This will be illustrated by presenting results from the evaluation of composting plants and animal farm houses.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1997

The effect of line configuration on perceived numerosity of dotted lines.

Estimates the number of objects in a line are made in many different situations. This paper demonstrates that besides the actual number of dots, aspects of line configuration affect the perceived numerosity of dotted lines. Experiment 1 provides evidence that the highly studied "clutter effect" in distance perception research replicates to the numerosity domain so that lines made up of more segments are perceived to contain more dots. Experiments 2-5 provide nomological validity for the recently proposed "direct distance" effect in distance perceptions by showing that numerosity perceptions are higher the greater the euclidean length between the line end points and by manipulating euclidean length in three orthogonal ways: the relative length of segments (Experiment 2), the angle between segments (Experiment 3), and the general direction of segments (Experiment 4). Experiment 5 conceptually replicates the results of Experiments 2-4 utilizing stimuli-based versus memory-based judgments and a discrimination task. Experiments 6 and 7 extend the research on spatial perception by demonstrating that the use of euclidean length as a source of information is inversely related to line width, with width varied through clutter (Experiment 6) and total line length (Experiment 7). Overall, the results demonstrate that the robustness of the euclidean length effect is contingent on the salience of alternative spatial heuristics--specifically, euclidean width. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Humans↗
PubMed2005

The perception of distances and spatial relationships in natural outdoor environments.

The ability of observers to perceive distances and spatial relationships in outdoor environments was investigated in two experiments. In experiment 1, the observers adjusted triangular configurations to appear equilateral, while in experiment 2, they adjusted the depth of triangles to match their base width. The results of both experiments revealed that there are large individual differences in how observers perceive distances in outdoor settings. The observers' judgments were greatly affected by the particular task they were asked to perform. The observers who had shown no evidence of perceptual distortions in experiment 1 (with binocular vision) demonstrated large perceptual distortions in experiment 2 when the task was changed to match distances in depth to frontal distances perpendicular to the observers' line of sight. Considered as a whole, the results indicate that there is no single relationship between physical and perceived space that is consistent with observers' judgments of distances in ordinary outdoor contexts.

Humans↗
PubMed1986

A spatial property of the retino-cortical mapping.

Striate cortex topography derives from a stretching of retinal space along the optic axis. At the retina, relative distances are preserved in a mapping of retinal space onto a spherical surface in the environment. At the cortex, relative distances along visual meridia in the cortical map are preserved in a mapping of striate cortex onto an environmental conic surface whose base is in the plane of the eye. This eco-cortical relationship can be considered a reference frame through which spatial relationships at the cortex might provide information about the environment. The present analysis provides an explanation of changes in cortical magnification with visual eccentricity in the primate and a detailed three-dimensional model of striate topography for the macaque monkey. In man, a conic environmental surface is shown to be uniformly resolvable along meridia in the visual field. Finally, the implications of this analysis of the structural properties of the retino-striate pathway and visual resolution are considered in relation to depth and distance perception.

Brain Mapping↗
PubMed1997

Song transmission and auditory perception of distance in wood warblers (Parulinae)

The influence of breeding habitat on the evolution of song structure was examined in four wood warbler species of the sub-family Parulinae. The effects of song degradation on the ability of territorial paruline males to estimate distance by means of acoustic cues was also investigated. Song transmission characteristics of paruline breeding habitats were compared in southeastern Ontario, Canada; songs native to the habitat in which they were broadcast did not degrade less than foreign songs. The response of territorial paruline males to playback of 'near' (undegraded) and 'far' (degraded) conspecific songs broadcast from the same position within the territory at the same amplitude were then compared. Males responded to near songs as they would to a conspecific territorial intruder and with less intensity to far songs, suggesting that males may use cues from song degradation to estimate distance to vocal conspecifics. Our results from transmission and playback experiments are discussed with respect to the ranging hypothesis, which proposes that selection should favour males that structure songs to minimize their degradation, so that songs function to disrupt or intimidate rivals by providing unreliable distance cues.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Navigating without vision: basic and applied research.

We describe some of the results of our program of basic and applied research on navigating without vision. One basic research topic that we have studied extensively is path integration, a form of navigation in which perceived self-motion is integrated over time to obtain an estimate of current position and orientation. In experiments on pathway completion, one test of path integration ability, we have found that subjects who are passively guided over the outbound path without vision exhibit significant errors when attempting to return to the origin but are nevertheless sensitive to turns and segment lengths in the stimulus path. We have also found no major differences in path integration ability among blind and sighted populations. A model we have developed that attributes errors in path integration to errors in encoding the stimulus path is a good beginning toward understanding path integration performance. In other research on path integration, in which optic flow information was manipulated in addition to the proprioceptive and vestibular information of nonvisual locomotion, we have found that optic flow is a weak input to the path integration process. In other basic research, our studies of auditory distance perception in outdoor environments show systematic underestimation of sound source distance. Our applied research has been concerned with developing and evaluating a navigation system for the visually impaired that uses three recent technologies: the Global Positioning System, Geographic Information Systems, and virtual acoustics. Our work shows that there is considerable promise of these three technologies in allowing visually impaired individuals to navigate and learn about unfamiliar environments without the assistance of human guides.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

The effect of accommodative hysteresis on apparent distance.

The influence of accommodative hysteresis on monocular distance perception was examined in 18 visually normal young adults. Tonic accommodation and apparent distance were measured immediately before and after a 10 minute period of sustained focus at either the accommodative nearpoint or farpoint. Separate sessions were used for the two sustained focus conditions. On each session, apparent distance was assessed for both a highly effective and a non-effective accommodative target viewed at a constant optical distance of 3D. Sustained focus at the nearpoint resulted in a significant increase in the apparent distance of the highly effective accommodative target, as well as in tonic accommodation. Sustained focus at the farpoint yielded a slight decrease in tonic accommodation, but no significant alteration in the apparent distance of the highly effective accommodative target. No tendency for change in the apparent distance of the non-effective accommodative target was observed under either the nearpoint or farpoint condition. The results suggest that accommodative distance information is linked to the level of monocular blur-driven accommodative innervation necessary for clarity of focus.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1983

Aftereffects of sustained convergence: some implications of the eye muscle potentiation hypothesis.

Aftereffects of sustained convergence are generally explained as the result of eye muscle potentiation (EMP). Three implications of this hypothesis for aftereffects in distance perception were tested: (i) According to the EMP hypothesis the aftereffects are based on oculomotor distance cues only. The addition of secondary cues during the test period should therefore reduce or eliminate the aftereffects. This expectation was confirmed. (ii) According to the EMP hypothesis the critical variable determining the aftereffect should be the distance of the inspection stimulus from the observer but not from the test stimulus. In confirmation of the expectation the aftereffects of certain inspection stimuli were of the same direction for test stimuli which bounded the range of inspection distances on both sides. (iii) When the aftereffects are based on oculomotor distance cues only, the effect of secondary cues during the test period should remain unchanged when they are present during the inspection period as well. Contrary to this expectation the aftereffects did not depend on the cues available during the test. This suggests that they are based on secondary cues, too, provided they are present during the inspection period.

Adolescent↗