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At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Retinal and extra-retinal contribution to position coding.

Though considerable effort has been expended on demonstrating the importance of extraretinal cues in distance perception (e.g. state of vergence), recent studies have shown that enriching the visual image brings about a decrease of perceptual underestimation of distance as observed otherwise, providing that contextual information is situated in the proximal space with regard to target position. The fact that a similar effect was observed when viewing monocularly was suggesting a prevalence of retinal input in distance coding. The present study, investigating reaching movements performed monocularly or binocularly in three successive visual scenes (dark-structured-dark), gave evidence for this assumption. Whatever the vision condition, a dark environment gave rise to an underestimation of target distance, which disappeared instantaneously when a structured background was unexpectedly provided. The sudden return to the dark condition resulted in a progressive drift towards underestimation. These findings strongly suggest that structured retinal information influences widely the perception of target distance. They show in addition that retinal signals may contribute to the calibration of non-retinal sources of information. The putative implication of the posterior parietal cortex in this dual influence is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

The moon illusion: II. A reference theory.

The present theory provides explanations for the moon illusion and related issues involving size and distance perception in natural, outdoor settings. Although some assumptions of previous theories are rejected, other pivotal aspects are retained in this formulation. In particular, the present theory states that both the sky and ground are important referents in judging the spatial extent of the moon. Neither factor alone can account for all the available data, but quantitative models incorporating both factors do quite well when applied to the parametric findings of Holway and Boring, as well as to the results obtained by Kaufman and Rock. The reference theory and its associated class of specific models suggest new theoretical directions and experimental tests to narrow yet further the selection of appropriate explanations for one of visual perception's oldest unsolved puzzles.

Astronomical Phenomena↗
PubMed2003

The right supratemporal plane hears the distance of objects: neuromagnetic correlates of virtual reality.

The neural mechanisms of auditory distance perception, a function of great biological importance, are poorly understood. Where not overruled by conflicting factors such as echoes or visual input, sound intensity is perceived as conveying distance information. We recorded neuromagnetic responses to amplitude variations over both supratemporal planes, with and without auditory spatial simulations. In the absence of other cues for distance, including those provided by auditory virtual reality, amplitude changes elicited enhanced preattentive responses over the right temporal lobe, indicating hemispheric lateralization of the 'where' pathway in the human. Lesion studies in monkeys and humans have shown that the rostral part of the right superior temporal cortex contributes to spatial awareness in the visual domain. Our data indicate that the distance to a sound source is processed within the adjacent right auditory cortex, thus extending the recent model of a right-hemisphere temporal multisensory matrix that subserves the integration of space-related data across visual and auditory modalities.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Ordinal depth information from accommodation?

The ability to judge egocentric distance was assessed in two groups of six observers using a manual pointing task. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which blur-driven accommodation can provide information on target distance in the absence of any retinal cues to distance. Observers were extremely accurate when carrying out the pointing task in a 'full-cue' condition. In contrast, observers were extremely poor at carrying out the task when accommodation was the only distance cue available. Responses on individual trials bore little relationship to the actual target distance in any of the observers. On the other hand, accommodation weakly biased the mean responses in some observers. This bias appears to be due to the observers' effective use of accommodation to determine whether the target presented in one trial was nearer or further away than the target presented in the previous trial. Accommodation therefore appears to provide ordinal information, although the distance signal may actually arise from accommodation-driven vergence. The poverty of accommodation as a source of metric information was highlighted in a second group of observers who all demonstrated a strong bias when perceiving distance in the presence of an initially ambiguous retinal cue. It is concluded that accommodation can act as a source of ordinal distance information in the absence of other cues to distance but the contribution of accommodation to normal distance perception in full-cue conditions is questioned.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed2003

Descartes's blind man revisited: bimanual triangulation of distance using static hand-held rods.

Analogous to binocular convergence, we tested Descartes's proposal that a blind person could triangulate distances using crossed hand-held rods by sensing hand separation and wrist angles. In Experiment 1, 22 participants judged distances to loci at 4 distances, 18-36 in. (45.7-91.4 cm), at 5 eccentricities, 0-12 in. (0-30.5 cm) left and right of center. Participants reliably differentiated and scaled distances. The median individual multiple correlation (actual distances and eccentricities vs. judged distances; nonlinear with eccentricity) was .91 (range, .75 to .95; group R = .98). In Experiment 2, 2 experienced observers judged 7 distances, 30-66 in. (76.2-167.6 cm) at 7 eccentricities, 0-18 in. (0-45.7 cm) left and right. Results replicated those of Experiment 1, with nonlinear multiple Rs of .97 and .99 for the 2 participants. Bimanual triangulation supported reliable distance judgments, comparable to binocular distance perception. No evidence of perceptual learning was found.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

The contribution of vision and proprioception to judgements of finger proximity.

We sought to determine whether an increase in judged egocentric distance created by increasing vergence-specified distance would be negated when participants pointed at their own finger. It was found that ocular position dominates limb proprioception in the judgement of finger distance in the sagittal plane when vision is available. In contrast, an increase in perceived egocentric distance was largely attenuated by the presence of limb proprioception in reduced visual cue conditions. We conclude that the relative contribution of vergence to perceived distance depends upon the strength of the vergence effort signal when there are other cues present. Furthermore, if the distance percept includes a major contribution from retinal cues, then the visual component will dominate the limb proprioception component. If the visual component is largely determined by vergence information, limb proprioception will make a significant contribution and actually dominate when the vergence effort signal is weak. The results extend previous studies that have found a similar relationship between ocular position and limb proprioception in the perception of a finger's location in the coronal plane.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Systematic distortions of shape from stereopsis.

The effectiveness of disparity information in defining 3-D shape was investigated by means of judgements of the shape of cylindrical continuous curved surfaces presented as random dot stereograms. At a close viewing distance, truly circular cylinders appeared elongated; at an intermediate distance, perception was close to veridical; and, at a far distance, cylinders appeared flattened. Indirect measures of scaling distance were calculated from these data. The results strongly suggest that the observed shape distortions are a consequence of scaling horizontal disparities with an incorrect measure of egocentric distance.

Depth Perception↗
PubMed2004

Spatial compression and adaptation with the low vision telescope.

PURPOSE: Geometrical analysis of monocular visual information specifying distance shows that a low vision telescope compresses optically specified distances by a factor about equal to its magnification. Using a group of eight visually healthy adults, we investigated the initial perceptual effect of putting on a 2x Galilean telescope and the adaptation produced by wearing the telescope. METHODS: Viewing was monocular, and the environment was only visible through the telescope. Because the telescope reduced the field of view to 13 degrees , we also tested a different group of eight visually normal adults who wore a simple monocular tube that restricted the field of view to 13 degrees . We measured perceived distance in a corridor using a visually directed open-loop walking task with distances ranging from 4 to 8 m. For both groups, monocular distance perception was measured before putting on the viewing device (baseline), immediately after putting on the viewing device (preadaptation), after wearing the viewing device during a 30-minute period of visual-motor activities (postadaptation), and immediately after taking off the viewing device (aftereffect). RESULTS: Comparing preadaptation with baseline measurements, the viewing devices produced a 15.4% initial compression of perceived distance on average. Comparing aftereffect with baseline measurements, the adaptation period produced a negative aftereffect that was 56.5% of the initial compression, thus showing substantial adaptation. The initial compression and the adaptation were highly significant effects, but neither effect was significantly different for the telescope group and the tube group. CONCLUSION: We conclude that free head movements in a structured environment can largely overcome the optically specified compression of distance produced by the 2x magnification of a low vision telescope, but there remains a significant initial compression of perceived distance that is produced by the restricted field of view. This compression can be substantially reduced by a short period of interaction with the environment.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1982

Neural representation of target distance in auditory cortex of the echolocating bat Myotis lucifugus.

1. Single- and multiunit recordings were obtained from neurons in the auditory cortex of the echolocating bat Myotis lucifugus, while trains of stimuli designed to simulate the bat's frequency-modulated (FM) orientation pulse and its returning echo were delivered. It was found that many neurons in the cortex responded selectively to pulse-echo pairs only if the time delay separating the artificial pulse and the echo was within a certain range. This response property is called "delay-dependent facilitation." Since echolating bats are known to utilize echo-delay information for the determination of target distance, it is postulated that these neurons are involved in the process of distance perception. 2. Two types of delay-sensitive neurons were characterized on the basis of their response patterns. P-type units had short maximum response delays, narrow delay response functions, and response latencies for pulse-echo pairs that were similar to their response latencies for single loud FM pulses. E-type units had longer maximum response delays, wide delay response functions, and pulse-echo pair response latencies that were time-locked to the echo. Another important difference between these two classes was that changes in the amplitude of the artificial echo caused systematic changes in the delay response of E-type units but not of P-type units. 3. The sharpness and stability of the delay response functions of P-type units suggested that they may encode target distance by responding at discrete echo delays. In contrast, delay tuning may not be an unambiguous determinant of echo delay in E-type units. Here, the most consistent and reliable response parameter for echo delay is the time at which the responses occurred. This suggested that echo delay could be encoded by the temporal pattern of responses in E-type units in relation to the responses evoked by the outgoing orientation cry. The different range of delay of delay sensitivity of P-type and E-type units indicates that these two mechanisms could be operating at different ranges of target distance. 4. P-type and E-type responses may not be due to different populations of neurons but to different response properties of the same population under different conditions. Evidence for this proposition was obtained by showing that in some recordings, decreases in the amplitude of the artificial pulse caused a switch in response from a long best delay, E-type response to a short best delay, P-type response. This suggested that the delay sensitivity of cortical neurons could be under the bat's control based on the intensity of its pulse emissions.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Numerical simulation of environment modulation of chemical signal structure and odor dispersal in the open ocean.

Hydrodynamic models were used to simulate the dispersal of a model fish pheromone at three characteristic depth regimes (mixed layer, and 300 and 1000 m) of broad extent in the open ocean at the scale of individual organisms. The models were calibrated to experimental studies of dye dispersal at these depths and the goldfish pheromone system was used as the model odorant. There are profound differences in the time course and geometry of dispersing odor fields with depths. Below the thermocline odor fields spread primarily as horizontal patches with dispersal rates about five times slower at 1000 m as compared to 300 m. In the mixed layer, odors disperse rapidly in all directions and the maximum radial distance of spread of a physiologically active odor patch is less than half of the deep water value. Increases in the threshold sensitivity of olfactory receptors can greatly increase effective odor field size. Chemical signals impact the encounter dynamics among oceanic organisms by affecting the distance at which the target (emitting) individual is perceived. Perception distances due to olfactory cues can be significantly greater than for other senses in pelagic oceanic environments. Environment specific modulation of odor fields then affects the signal properties and therefore utility of chemoreception that, in turn, bear on encounter probabilities and transfer functions in oceanic ecosystems.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Anisotropy in the extended haptic perception of longitudinal distances.

Using horizontal rotational motions of a hand-held rod, participants in four experiments probed the aperture between two blocks separated in depth. The farther block could be either on the outer or on the inner side of the hand-rod system, defining apertures of opposite sense. The participants reported the perceived size of the in-depth intervals by adjusting, with the nonprobing hand, the lateral separation between two blocks or the egocentric distances of two blocks. Over variations in hand and geometric arrangement of stimulus and report blocks, perceived aperture size depended on the aperture's sense: Apertures with the farther edge on the outer side of the hand-rod were reported as being larger than their mirror image counterparts. The effect was not observed in judgments of a single edge distance (Experiment 5); it was configuration dependent. The sense effect would not be expected from the physical quantity accommodating perceived frontal apertures. Possible expansions of the physical model are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Dissociation between visual perception of allocentric distance and visually directed walking of its extent.

Walking without vision to previously viewed targets was compared with visual perception of allocentric distance in two experiments. Experimental evidence had shown that physically equal distances in a sagittal plane on the ground were perceptually underestimated as compared with those in a frontoparallel plane, even under full-cue conditions. In spite of this perceptual anisotropy of space, Loomis et al (1992 Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance 18 906-921) found that subjects could match both types of distances in a blind-walking task. In experiment 1 of the present study, subjects were required to reproduce the extent of allocentric distance between two targets by either walking towards the targets, or by walking in a direction incompatible with the locations of the targets. The latter condition required subjects to derive an accurate allocentric distance from information based on the perceived locations of the two targets. The walked distance in the two conditions was almost identical whether the two targets were presented in depth (depth-presentation condition) or in the frontoparallel plane (width-presentation condition). The results of a perceptual-matching task showed that the depth distances had to be much greater than the width distances in order to be judged to be equal in length (depth compression). In experiment 2, subjects were required to reproduce the extent of allocentric distance from the viewing point by blindly walking in a direction other than toward the targets. The walked distance in the depth-presentation condition was shorter than that in the width-presentation condition. This anisotropy in motor responses, however, was mainly caused by apparent overestimation of length oriented in width, not by depth compression. In addition, the walked distances were much better scaled than those in experiment 1. These results suggest that the perceptual and motor systems share a common representation of the location of targets, whereas a dissociation in allocentric distance exists between the two systems in full-cue conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Absolute and relative cues for the auditory perception of egocentric distance.

Three experiments were performed to examine the reverberation cue to egocentric auditory distance and to determine the extent to which such a cue could provide 'absolute', as contrasted with 'relative', information about distance. In experiment 1 independent groups of blindfolded observers (200 altogether) were presented with broadband noise from a speaker at one of five different distances (0.55 to 8 m) in a normal hard-walled room. Half of each group of observers were presented with the sound at 0 deg azimuth, followed (after a delay) by the identical sound at 90 deg azimuth. The order of presentation was reversed for the remaining observers. Perceived distance varied significantly as a function of the physical distance to the speaker, even for the first presentations. The change in the binaural information between the 0 deg and 90 deg presentations did not significantly modify the results. For both orientations, near distances were overestimated and far distances were underestimated. Experiment 2 and 3 were designed to evaluate how much prior auditory exposure to the laboratory environment was necessary. A 200 Hz square-wave signal was presented from one of three distances (1, 2, or 6 m) to observers who had either minimal room information or an exposure which included talking within the room. Perceived distance varied significantly with physical distance regardless to exposure condition.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2005

On the externalization of virtual sound images in headphone reproduction: a Wiener filter approach.

In-head localization of sound images is a critical problem in headphone reproduction. The paper investigates the degree of externalization in terms of the distance of auditory images for various synthesis and reproduction cases. An effective binaural headphone system was constructed by way of binaural synthesis using head-related impulse responses and individual headphone equalization using Wiener filter theory. The headphone system designed had an average reproduction performance error of 2.4% for five subjects with a random noise input, and was used to perform some subjective tests with a set of virtual sources equally spaced and distanced from the center of each subject's head in the horizontal plane. The effects of individual and nonindividual binaural syntheses and those of equalized and nonequalized reproductions were separately investigated. In the tests, each subject was instructed to indicate the distance of auditory images. The results obtained demonstrate that individual equalization is important for externalization, and individual synthesis is important for consistent distance perception. Thus, a combined use of both individual equalization and individual synthesis resulted in externalized sound images of a consistent distance.

Acoustics↗
PubMed1996

Binocular visual surface perception.

Binocular disparity, the differential angular separation between pairs of image points in the two eyes, is the well-recognized basis for binocular distance perception. Without denying disparity's role in perceiving depth, we describe two perceptual phenomena, which indicate that a wider view of binocular vision is warranted. First, we show that disparity can play a critical role in two-dimensional perception by determining whether separate image fragments should be grouped as part of a single surface or segregated as parts of separate surfaces. Second, we show that stereoscopic vision is not limited to the registration and interpretation of binocular disparity but that it relies on half-occluded points, visible to one eye and not the other, to determine the layout and transparency of surfaces. Because these half-visible points are coded by neurons carrying eye-of-origin information, we suggest that the perception of these surface properties depends on neural activity available at visual cortical area V1.

Form Perception↗
PubMed2004

When two eyes are better than one in prehension: monocular viewing and end-point variance.

Previous research has suggested that binocular vision plays an important role in prehension. It has been shown that removing binocular vision affects (negatively) both the planning and on-line control of prehension. It has been suggested that the adverse impact of removing binocular vision is because monocular viewing results in an underestimation of target distance in visuomotor tasks. This suggestion is based on the observation that the kinematics of prehension are altered when viewing monocularly. We argue that it is not possible to draw unambiguous conclusions regarding the accuracy of distance perception from these data. In experiment 1, we found data that contradict the idea that a consistent visuomotor underestimation of target distance is an inevitable consequence of monocular viewing. Our data did show, however, that positional variance increases under monocular viewing. We provide an alternative explanation for the kinematic changes found when binocular vision is removed. Our account is based on the changes in movement kinematics that occur when end-point variance is altered following the removal of binocular vision. We suggest that the removal of binocular vision leads to greater perceptual uncertainty (e.g. less precise stimulus cues), resulting in changes in the kinematics of the movement (longer duration movements). Our alternative account reconciles some differences within the research literature. We conducted a series of experiments to explore further the issue of when binocular information is advantageous in prehension. Three subsequent experiments were employed which varied binocular/monocular viewing in selectively lit conditions. Experiment 2 explored the differences in prehension measured between monocular and binocular viewing in a full cue environment with a continuous view of the target object. Experiment 3 required participants to reach, under a monocular or binocular view, for a continuously visible self-illuminated target object in an otherwise dark room. In Experiment 3, the participant could neither see the target object nor the reaching hand following initiation of the prehension movement. Our results suggest that binocular vision contributes to prehension by providing additional information (cues) to the nervous system. These cues appear to be weighted differentially according to the particular constellation of stimulus cues available to the participants when reaching to grasp. One constant advantage of a binocular view appears to be the provision of on-line information regarding the position of the hand relative to the target. In reduced cue conditions (i.e. where a view of the target object is lost following initiation of the movement), binocular information regarding target location appears to be particularly useful in the initial programming of reach distance. Our results are a step towards establishing the specific contributions that binocular vision makes to the control of prehension.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗