Sensitivity of the observer to transformations of the visual field.

Abstract

Motion-picture sequences representing 2- or 3-dimensional textures rotating or translating with respect to X, Y, or Z and displayed through polar or parallel projections were generated by a computer technique. 32 Ss selected physical models of the textures and manipulated these according to the perceived motions. Responses to the various transformations corresponded to findings in studies of motion parallax, stereokinetic depth, and the kinetic depth effect, while method of projection accounted for differences between the findings of Es using the same transformations. The results supported the meaningfulness of a psychophysics of depth perception based on a mathematical analysis of transformations of the visual field.