Cross-modal slant and curvature matching of stereo- and motion-induced surfaces

Percept Psychophys. 1995 Nov;57(8):1175-86. doi: 10.3758/bf03208373.

Abstract

In many laboratory setups and in many day-to-day situations, a unique solution of the structure-from-two-views problem is unobtainable. Yet, when the visual system is presented with two projections in a sequence, it nevertheless appears to generate a reasonably stable percept of structure. In the research reported here, we examined whether the same surface would be perceived when subjects were presented with a pair of views that alternated in time monocularly (two-frame motion) or were shown simultaneously to both eyes (stereo). In Experiment 1, we studied slant perception: human observers were asked to match the slant of a motion-induced planar surface with its stereo-induced counterpart. In Experiment 2, the perceived curvature of parabolic surfaces was matched in a similar way. The results show that motion-induced slant is matched with a higher value of the stereo-induced slant. However, the curvature experiment showed that motion-induced curvature is matched with a lower stereo-induced curvature. One possible explanation may be that the slant and curvature are internally inconsistent in at least one of the modalities.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Attention*
  • Cues
  • Depth Perception*
  • Form Perception*
  • Humans
  • Motion Perception*
  • Optical Illusions*
  • Orientation*
  • Problem Solving
  • Psychophysics