Dataset Information

Higher resolution stimulus facilitates depth perception: MT+ plays a significant role in monocular depth perception.

ABSTRACT: Today, we human beings are facing with high-quality virtual world of a completely new nature. For example, we have a digital display consisting of a high enough resolution that we cannot distinguish from the real world. However, little is known how such high-quality representation contributes to the sense of realness, especially to depth perception. What is the neural mechanism of processing such fine but virtual representation? Here, we psychophysically and physiologically examined the relationship between stimulus resolution and depth perception, with using luminance-contrast (shading) as a monocular depth cue. As a result, we found that a higher resolution stimulus facilitates depth perception even when the stimulus resolution difference is undetectable. This finding is against the traditional cognitive hierarchy of visual information processing that visual input is processed continuously in a bottom-up cascade of cortical regions that analyze increasingly complex information such as depth information. In addition, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results reveal that the human middle temporal (MT+) plays a significant role in monocular depth perception. These results might provide us with not only the new insight of our neural mechanism of depth perception but also the future progress of our neural system accompanied by state-of- the-art technologies.

SUBMITTER: Tsushima Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4202214 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Higher resolution stimulus facilitates depth perception: MT+ plays a significant role in monocular depth perception.

Tsushima Yoshiaki Y Komine Kazuteru K Sawahata Yasuhito Y Hiruma Nobuyuki N

Scientific reports 20141020

Today, we human beings are facing with high-quality virtual world of a completely new nature. For example, we have a digital display consisting of a high enough resolution that we cannot distinguish from the real world. However, little is known how such high-quality representation contributes to the sense of realness, especially to depth perception. What is the neural mechanism of processing such fine but virtual representation? Here, we psychophysically and physiologically examined the relation ...[more]

PMID: 25327168

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Project description:Flying insects, such as flies or bees, rely on consistent information regarding the depth structure of the environment when performing their flight maneuvers in cluttered natural environments. These behaviors include avoiding collisions, approaching targets or spatial navigation. Insects are thought to obtain depth information visually from the retinal image displacements ("optic flow") during translational ego-motion. Optic flow in the insect visual system is processed by a mechanism that can be modeled by correlation-type elementary motion detectors (EMDs). However, it is still an open question how spatial information can be extracted reliably from the responses of the highly contrast- and pattern-dependent EMD responses, especially if the vast range of light intensities encountered in natural environments is taken into account. This question will be addressed here by systematically modeling the peripheral visual system of flies, including various adaptive mechanisms. Different model variants of the peripheral visual system were stimulated with image sequences that mimic the panoramic visual input during translational ego-motion in various natural environments, and the resulting peripheral signals were fed into an array of EMDs. We characterized the influence of each peripheral computational unit on the representation of spatial information in the EMD responses. Our model simulations reveal that information about the overall light level needs to be eliminated from the EMD input as is accomplished under light-adapted conditions in the insect peripheral visual system. The response characteristics of large monopolar cells (LMCs) resemble that of a band-pass filter, which reduces the contrast dependency of EMDs strongly, effectively enhancing the representation of the nearness of objects and, especially, of their contours. We furthermore show that local brightness adaptation of photoreceptors allows for spatial vision under a wide range of dynamic light conditions.

Dataset Information

Higher resolution stimulus facilitates depth perception: MT+ plays a significant role in monocular depth perception.

Publications

Higher resolution stimulus facilitates depth perception: MT+ plays a significant role in monocular depth perception.

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