Dataset Information

Integration of 3D structure from disparity into biological motion perception independent of depth awareness.

ABSTRACT: Images projected onto the retinas of our two eyes come from slightly different directions in the real world, constituting binocular disparity that serves as an important source for depth perception - the ability to see the world in three dimensions. It remains unclear whether the integration of disparity cues into visual perception depends on the conscious representation of stereoscopic depth. Here we report evidence that, even without inducing discernible perceptual representations, the disparity-defined depth information could still modulate the visual processing of 3D objects in depth-irrelevant aspects. Specifically, observers who could not discriminate disparity-defined in-depth facing orientations of biological motions (i.e., approaching vs. receding) due to an excessive perceptual bias nevertheless exhibited a robust perceptual asymmetry in response to the indistinguishable facing orientations, similar to those who could consciously discriminate such 3D information. These results clearly demonstrate that the visual processing of biological motion engages the disparity cues independent of observers' depth awareness. The extraction and utilization of binocular depth signals thus can be dissociable from the conscious representation of 3D structure in high-level visual perception.

SUBMITTER: Wang Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3931706 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Integration of 3D structure from disparity into biological motion perception independent of depth awareness.

Wang Ying Y Jiang Yi Y

PloS one 20140221 2

Images projected onto the retinas of our two eyes come from slightly different directions in the real world, constituting binocular disparity that serves as an important source for depth perception - the ability to see the world in three dimensions. It remains unclear whether the integration of disparity cues into visual perception depends on the conscious representation of stereoscopic depth. Here we report evidence that, even without inducing discernible perceptual representations, the dispari ...[more]

PMID: 24586622

Similar Datasets

Project description:The perception of depth from relative motion is believed to be a slow process that "builds-up" over a period of observation. However, in the case of motion parallax, the potential accuracy of the depth estimate suffers as the observer translates during the viewing period. Our recent quantitative model for the perception of depth from motion parallax proposes that relative object depth (d) can be determined from retinal image motion (d?/dt), pursuit eye movement (d?/dt), and fixation distance (f) by the formula: d/f?d?/d?. Given the model's dynamics, it is important to know the integration time required by the visual system to recover d? and d?, and then estimate d. Knowing the minimum integration time reveals the incumbent error in this process. A depth-phase discrimination task was used to determine the time necessary to perceive depth-sign from motion parallax. Observers remained stationary and viewed a briefly translating random-dot motion parallax stimulus. Stimulus duration varied between trials. Fixation on the translating stimulus was monitored and enforced with an eye-tracker. The study found that relative depth discrimination can be performed with presentations as brief as 16.6 ms, with only two stimulus frames providing both retinal image motion and the stimulus window motion for pursuit (mean range=16.6-33.2 ms). This was found for conditions in which, prior to stimulus presentation, the eye was engaged in ongoing pursuit or the eye was stationary. A large high-contrast masking stimulus disrupted depth-discrimination for stimulus presentations less than 70-75 ms in both pursuit and stationary conditions. This interval might be linked to ocular-following response eye-movement latencies. We conclude that neural mechanisms serving depth from motion parallax generate a depth estimate much more quickly than previously believed. We propose that additional sluggishness might be due to the visual system's attempt to determine the maximum d?/d? ratio for a selection of points on a complicated stimulus.

Dataset Information

Integration of 3D structure from disparity into biological motion perception independent of depth awareness.

Publications

Integration of 3D structure from disparity into biological motion perception independent of depth awareness.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets