The visual perception of three-dimensional shape from self-motion and object-motion.
To evaluate the influence of egomotion on the three-dimensional visual processing of structure-from-motion (SFM), we compared the visual discrimination between planar and spherical surfaces during subject-translation, object-translation, or rotation of the object in depth. Performance was the best for object-rotation, intermediate for subject-translation, and the poorest for object-translation--and thus increased with the quality of retinal image stabilization achieved in the different conditions. This suggests that the major role of self-motion information was to stabilize retinal images. In view of previous results, we propose that the interactions between self-motion information and SFM are reduced to functional complementarity, in the sense that self-motion can lift visual ambiguities but does not improve the sensitivity of SFM processes.
Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Perception et de l'Action, CNRS-Collège de France, Paris.
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Cornilleau-Pérès
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Droulez
D000328:Adult; D003867:Depth Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology; D012399:Rotation