Perception (P135)

Athena Grace R. Raagas

BA in Psychology III
CHAPTER 10: Goldstein & Cacciamani, 2021
Perceiving Depth and Size

● we still need to explain how we get from the flat image on the retina to the
three-dimensional perception of the scene.
○ way researchers have approached this problem is by the cue approach to
depth perception, which focuses on identifying information in the retinal
image that is correlated with depth in the scene.
● when one object partially covers another object, the object that is partially covered
must be farther than the object that is covering it.
○ situation, called occlusion, is a cue that one object is in front of another.
● according to cue theory, we learn the connection between this cue and depth
through our previous experience with the environment.
● number of different types of cues that signal depth in a scene have been identified.
○ Oculomotor–cues based on our ability to sense the position of our eyes and
the tension in our eye muscles.
○ Monocular–cues based on the visual information available within one eye.
○ Binocular–cues that depend on visual information within both eyes.
Oculomotor Cues
● oculomotor cues are created by
○ (1) convergence, the inward movement of the eyes that occurs when we
look at nearby objects
○ (2) accommodation, the change in the shape of the lens that occurs when
we focus on objects at various distances.
● idea behind these cues is that we can feel the inward movement of the eyes that
occurs when the eyes converge to look at nearby objects, and we feel the tightening
of eye muscles that change the shape of the lens to focus on a nearby object.
Monocular Cues
● include accommodation, which we have described under oculomotor cues; pictorial
cues, which are sources of depth information in a two-dimensional picture; and
movement-based cues, which are sources of depth information created by
movement.
Pictorial Cues
● are sources of depth information that can be depicted in a picture, such as
the illustrations in this book or an image on the retina
Occlusion
● occurs when one object hides or partially hides another from view.
Relative Height
● height in the frame of the photo corresponds to the height in our field
of view, and objects that are higher in the field of view are usually
farther away.
● according to the cue of relative height, objects with their bases
closer to the horizon are usually seen as being more distant.
○ being higher in the field of view causes objects on the ground
to appear farther away, whereas being lower in the field of
view causes objects in the sky to appear farther away
Familiar and Relative Size
● use the cue of familiar size when we judge distance based on our
prior knowledge of the sizes of objects.
● experiment by William Epstein (1965) shows that under certain
conditions, our knowledge of an object’s size influences our
perception of that object’s distance
● depth cue related to familiar size is relative size
○ when two objects are known to be of equal physical size, the
one that is farther away will take up less of your field of view
than the one that is closer..
Perspective Convergence
● when you look down parallel railroad tracks that appear to converge
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in the distance, you are experiencing perspective convergence.

● often used by Renaissance artists to add to the impression of depth in
their paintings
Perspective
● atmospheric perspective occurs because the farther away an object
is, the more air and particles (dust, water droplets, airborne pollution)
we have to look through, so that distant objects appear less sharp
than nearer objects and sometimes have a slight blue tint.
Texture Gradient
● when a number of similar objects are equally spaced throughout a
scene, as in Figure 10.8, they create a texture gradient, which
results in a perception of depth, with elements seen as being spaced
more closely being perceived as farther.
Shadows
● shadows—decreases in light intensity caused by the blockage of
light—can provide information regarding the locations of these
objects.
Motion-Produced Cues
● once we start moving, new cues emerge that further enhance our perception
of depth.
Motion Parallax
● motion parallax occurs when, as we move, nearby objects appear to
glide rapidly past us, but more distant objects appear to move more
slowly.
Deletion and Accretion
● as an observer moves sideways, some things become covered, and
others become uncovered.
● as you move your head, your left hand appears to cover your right
hand.
○ covering of the farther right hand is deletion.
● uncovering of the far hand is accretion.
Integrating Monocular Depth Cues
● each of these cues gives us “best guess” information regarding object
depth and that each cue can, by itself, be uninformative in certain
situations.
● relative height is most useful when objects are on a flat plane and we
can see where they touch the ground, shadow is most useful if the
scene is illuminated at an angle, familiar size is most useful if we have
prior knowledge of the objects’ sizes, and so forth.
Binocular Depth Information
● different viewpoints for the two eyes are the basis of stereoscopic vision, which
creates stereoscopic depth perception—depth perception created by input from
both eyes.
Seeing Depth With Two Eyes
● situations such as this, along with a condition called “walleye” in which the
eyes look outward, are forms of strabismus, or misalignment of the eyes.
○ visual system suppresses vision in one of the eyes to avoid double
vision, so the person sees the world with only one eye at a time.
● most common method used in 3-D movies uses polarized light—light waves
that vibrate in only one orientation.
Binocular Disparity
● binocular disparity, the difference in the images on the left and right retinas,
is the basis of stereoscopic vision.
Corresponding Retinal Points
● corresponding retinal points—points on the retina that would
overlap if the eyes were superimposed on each other
● Julie, the tree, and any other objects that fall on corresponding points
are located on a surface called the horopter.
Noncorresponding Points and Absolute Disparity
● images of objects that are not on the horopter fall on
noncorresponding points.
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● degree to which Bill’s image deviates from falling on corresponding

points is called absolute disparity.
● amount of absolute disparity, called the angle of disparity, is
indicated by the blue arrow in Figure 10.17a; it is the angle between
the corresponding point on the right eye for the left-eye image of Bill
(blue dot) and the actual location of the image on the right eye
● pattern of disparity where the left eye sees an object (e.g., Bill) to the
right of the observer’s fixation point (e.g., Julie) and the right eyes
sees that same object to the left of the fixation point is called crossed
disparity (you can remember this by thinking about the fact that you
would need to “cross” your eyes in order to fixate Bill).
○ occurs whenever an object is closer to the observer than
where the observer is looking.
● pattern of disparity where the left eye sees an object to the left of the
observer’s fixation point and the right eye sees that same object to
the right of the fixation point is called uncrossed disparity (in order
to fixate on Bill you would need to “uncross” your eyes).
Absolute Disparity Indicates Distance From the Horopter
● the angle of disparity is greater for objects at greater distances from
the horopter.
● also another type of disparity, called relative disparity, which is
related to how we judge the distance between two objects.
Disparity (Geometrical) Creates Stereopsis (Perceptual)
● the relationship between disparity and what observers perceive by
introducing stereopsis—the impression of depth that results from information
provided by binocular disparity.
● Julesz (1971) created a stimulus called the random-dot stereogram, which
contains no pictorial cues.
● two such random-dot patterns, which together constitute a random-dot
stereogram
● separation is accomplished by using a device called a stereoscope that
uses two lenses to focus the left image on the left eye and the right image on
the right eye.
The Correspondence Problem

The Physiology of Binocular Depth Perception

● there should be neurons that signal different amounts of disparity.
● these neurons, which are called binocular depth cells or disparity-selective cells,
were discovered when research in the 1960s and 1970s revealed neurons that
respond to disparity in the primary visual cortex, area V1
● disparity tuning curve - particular neuron responds best when the left and right
eyes are stimulated to create an absolute disparity of about 1 degree.
● later research has shown that neurons sensitive to disparity are found in many areas
outside V1
Depth Information Across Species
● animals such as cats, monkeys, and humans that have frontal eyes, which result in
overlapping fields of view, can use disparity to perceive depth.
● Rossel moved a fly toward the mantis and determined when the mantis reached for
the fly with its legs—a response called striking—he found that the mantis’ striking
was determined by the fly’s apparent distance as determined by the strength of the
prisms.
● more recent mantis experiment created a “mantis cinema” in which the mantis wore
red–purple glasses,
● animals with lateral eyes, such as the rabbit (Figure 10.28), have much less overlap
and therefore can use disparity only in the small area of overlap to perceive depth.
● motion parallax is probably insects’ most important method of judging distance, and
they use it in a number of different ways
● Donald Griffin (1944) coined the term echolocation to describe the biological sonar
system used by bats to avoid objects in the dark.
Perceiving Size
● idea that we can misperceive size when accurate depth information is not present
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was demonstrated in a classic experiment by A. H. Holway and Edwin Boring (1941).

The Holway and Boring Experiment
● sat at the intersection of two hallways and saw a luminous test circle when
looking down the right hallway and a luminous comparison circl when looking
down the left hallway
● visual angle is the angle of an object relative to the observer’s eye.
○ tells us how large the object will be on the back of the eye.
● approximate visual angle of the width of the thumb at arm’s length is 2
degrees.
● “thumb technique” provides a way to determine the approximate visual
angle of any object in the environment.
How Holway and Boring Tested Size Perception in a Hallway
● small circles that were positioned close to the observer and larger
circles that were positioned farther away all had visual angles of 1
degree.
● each time some depth information was eliminated, the observer’s
judgments of the sizes of the test circles became less accurate.
Size Constancy
● fact that our perception of an object’s size is relatively constant even when
we view the object from different distances is called size constancy.
Size Constancy as a Calculation
● link between size constancy and depth perception has led to the
proposal that size constancy is based on a mechanism called
size–distance scaling
● S = K (R x D)
○ S is the object’s perceived size,
○ K is a constant,
○ R is the size of the retinal image,
○ D is the perceived distance of the object.
● according to the size–distance equation, as a person walks away
from you, the size of the person’s image on your retina (R) gets
smaller, but your perception of the person’s distance (D) gets larger.
● relationship between the apparent distance of an afterimage and its
perceived size is known as Emmert’s law: The farther away an
afterimage appears, the larger it will seem.
Other Information for Size Perception
● one source of information for size perception is relative size.
● this idea that our perception of the sizes of objects can be
influenced by the sizes of nearby objects explains why we
often fail to appreciate how tall basketball players are, when
all we see for comparison are other basketball players.
Illusions of Depth and Size
● in the Müller-Lyer illusion, the right vertical line in appears to be longer than the left
vertical line, even though they are both exactly the same length (measure them).
Misapplied Size Constancy Scaling
● Richard Gregory (1966) explains the illusion on the basis of a mechanism he
calls misapplied size constancy scaling.
● points out that size constancy normally helps us maintain a stable perception
of objects by taking distance into account
Conflicting Cues Theory
● R. H. Day (1989, 1990) has proposed the conflicting cues theory, which
states that our perception of line length depends on two cues:
○ (1) the actual length of the vertical lines
○ (2) the overall length of the figure.
● In the Ponzo (or railroad track) illusion, shown in Figure 10.47, both animals are the
same size on the page, and so have the same visual angle, but the one on top
appears longer.
● Ames room causes two people of equal size to appear very different in size
○ reason for this erroneous perception of size lies in the construction of the
room.
○ Ames room is actually shaped so that the right corner of the room is almost
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twice as far from the observer as the left corner.

● because the perceived distance (D) is the same for the two people, but the size of
the retinal image (R) is smaller for the people on the right, their perceived size (S) is
smaller.
● when the moon is on the horizon it appears much larger than when it is high in the
sky, an effect called the moon illusion
● according to apparent distance theory, the answer has to do with the perceived
distance of the moon.
○ moon on the horizon appears more distant because it is viewed across the
filled space of the terrain, which contains depth information.
● key to the moon illusion, according to apparent distance theory, is the size–distance
scaling equation, S = K (R x D). Retinal size, R, is the same for both locations of the
moon (since the visual angle is always the same no matter where the moon appears
in the sky), but D is greater when the moon is on the
● horizon, so it appears larger
● another theory of the moon illusion, the angular size contrast theory, proposes that
the high in the sky moon appears smaller because the large expanse of sky
surrounding it makes it appear smaller by comparison.

● one requirement for the operation of binocular disparity is that the eyes must be able
to binocularly fixate, so that the two eyes are both looking directly at the object and
the two foveas are directed to exactly the same place.
● another type of depth information is provided by pictorial cues.
○ cues develop later than disparity, presumably because they depend on
experience with the environment and the development of cognitive
capabilities.
● preferential reaching procedure is based on observations that infants as young as 2
months old will reach for nearby objects and that 5-month-old infants are extremely
likely to reach for an object that is placed within their reach and unlikely to reach for
an object that is beyond their reach
●