title: Testing a counter-intuitive prediction of optimal cue combination.
abstract: Weighted averaging is said to be optimal when the weights assigned to the cues minimize the variance of the final estimate. Since the variance of this optimal percept only depends on the variances of the individual cues, irrespective of their values, judgments about a cue conflict stimulus should have the same variance as ones about a cue consistent stimulus. We tested this counter-intuitive prediction with a slant matching experiment using monocular and binocular slant cues. We found that the slant was indeed matched with about the same variance when the cues indicated slants that differed by 15 degrees as when they indicated the same slant.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute MOVE, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 9, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. C.Muller@fbw.vu.nl
authors.forename: Chris M P
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.forename: Jeroen B J
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Smeets
mesh_terms: D003196:Computer Graphics; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D019545:Intuition; D007600:Judgment; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011601:Psychophysics; D015348:Vision, Binocular / Q000502:physiology