Save

Integration Mechanisms for Heading Perception

In: Seeing and Perceiving
Authors:
Lucia Vaina 1Brain and Vision Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA, Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Email: vaina@bu.edu

Search for other papers by Lucia Vaina in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
Finnegan Calabro 2Brain and Vision Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Search for other papers by Finnegan Calabro in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
Elif Sikoglu 3Brain and Vision Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Search for other papers by Elif Sikoglu in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
, and
Scott Beardsley 4Brain and Vision Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA

Search for other papers by Scott Beardsley in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
Online Publication Date:
01 Jan 2010
Download Citation Get Permissions

Access options

Get access to the full article by using one of the access options below.

Institutional Login

Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials

Login via Institution

Purchase

Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

Other access options

Rent on DeepDyve
Redeem Access Token

Abstract

Previous studies of heading perception suggest that human observers employ spatiotemporal pooling to accommodate noise in optic flow stimuli. Here, we investigated how spatial and temporal integration mechanisms are used for judgments of heading through a psychophysical experiment involving three different types of noise. Furthermore, we developed two ideal observer models to study the components of the spatial information used by observers when performing the heading task. In the psychophysical experiment, we applied three types of direction noise to optic flow stimuli to differentiate the involvement of spatial and temporal integration mechanisms. The results indicate that temporal integration mechanisms play a role in heading perception, though their contribution is weaker than that of the spatial integration mechanisms. To elucidate how observers process spatial information to extract heading from a noisy optic flow field, we compared psychophysical performance in response to random-walk direction noise with that of two ideal observer models (IOMs). One model relied on 2D screen-projected flow information (2D-IOM), while the other used environmental, i.e., 3D, flow information (3D-IOM). The results suggest that human observers compensate for the loss of information during the 2D retinal projection of the visual scene for modest amounts of noise. This suggests the likelihood of a 3D reconstruction during heading perception, which breaks down under extreme levels of noise.

Title:
Integration Mechanisms for Heading Perception
Article Type:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/187847510X503605
Language:
English
Pages:
197–221
Keywords:
IDEAL OBSERVER; SPATIOTEMPORAL INTEGRATION; HEADING; PSYCHOPHYSICS; MOTION
In:
Seeing and Perceiving
In:
Volume 23: Issue 3
Publisher:
Brill
E-ISSN:
1878-4763
Print ISSN:
1878-4755
Subjects:
Psychology, Biology, Biology & Environmental Sciences

Content Metrics

All Time Past 365 days Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 471 132 10
Full Text Views 54 1 0
PDF Views & Downloads 22 1 0