Visual Perception of the 3-D World
Myron L. Braunstein
University
of California, Irvine
How
we perceive the visual world has been a concern of philosophers and scientists
throughout history, but only in the past few decades have we begun to
understand the complexity of visual perception. The speculation of early writers still influences current
thinking and the debate about whether perception is direct or a product of
unconscious inference continues today.
We will begin with some early writings about the nature of vision and
consider the constructivist approaches of Helmholtz and Rock (Day 1). Next we will examine J. J. Gibson's theory
of direct perception and Gunnar Johansson's concept of decoding principles (Day
2). We will then consider David Marr's computational approach and the role of
heuristics in perception (Day 3). Next
we will turn to empirical results, beginning with studies of the role of motion
in depth perception and how visual information is integrated to provide a
perception of a 3-D scene (Day 4). The
examination of scene perception will conclude with research on the perception
of layout (Day 5).
Day 1: Perceptual Theory I - PowerPoint Presentation
· Early
theories of vision
· Unconscious
inference
Required reading:
Rock, I. (1983). The Logic of Perception. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press. pp. 1-42.
Optional readings:
Pastore,
N. (1971). Selective History of Theories of
Visual Perception: 1650-1950. New York: Oxford University Press, Chapters 2, 3,
4 and 5.
Epstein,
W. (1995). The metatheoretical context. In W.
Epstein & S. J. Rogers (Eds.), Perception of Space and Motion (pp. 1-22).
San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Helmholtz,
H. (1910/1962). Treatise on Physiological
Optics. Translated from the 3d German ed. Edited by James P. C. Southall. New
York: Dover Publications. Vol. III, pp. 1 37.
Day 2: Perceptual theory II - PowerPoint Presentation
· Direct
perception
· Decoding
principles
Required
readings:
Gibson,
J. J. (1979). The Ecological Approach to
Visual Perception. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin. pp. 127-143, 238-263.
Johansson,
G. (1970). On theories for visual space
perception: A letter to Gibson. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 11, 67-74.
Gibson,
J. J. (1970). On theories for visual space
perception: A reply to Johansson. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 11,
75-79.
Optional
reading:
Gibson,
J. J. (1966). The Senses Considered as
Perceptual Systems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 250-265.
Day 3:
Perceptual theory III - PowerPoint Presentation
· Smart
mechanisms
· Computational
vision
· Heuristics
Required readings:
Runeson,
S. (1977). On the possibility of smart
perceptual mechanisms. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 18, 172-179.
Marr, D. (1982). Vision : A Computational Investigation into
the Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information. San Francisco:
W.H. Freeman, pp. 3-38.
Braunstein,
M. L. (1994). Decoding principles, heuristics
and inference in visual perception. In G. Jansson, S. S. Bergstrom, &
Epstein, W. (Eds.), Perceiving Events and Objects. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Optional readings:
Hoffman, D.
D. (1998). Visual
intelligence: how we create what we see. New York: W. W. Norton.
Day 4: Scene Perception I - PowerPoint Presentation
· Structure-from-motion
and motion parallax
· Distance
and shape
Required readings:
Andersen,
G. J., Braunstein, M. L., & Saidpour, A.
(1998). The perception of depth and slant from texture in 3D scenes.
Perception, 27, 1087-1106.
Sauer,
C. W., Braunstein, M. L., Saidpour, A., & Andersen, G. J. Propagation
of depth information from local regions in 3-D scenes. (2002).
Perception, 31, 1047–1059.
Optional readings:
Rogers,
B., & Graham, M. (1979). Motion parallax
as an independent cue for depth perception. Perception, 8, 125-134
Andersen,
G. J., Saidpour, A., & Braunstein, M. L.
(1998). Effects of collimation on perceived layout in 3D scenes. Perception, 27, 1305-1315.
Sauer,
C. W., Saidpour, A., Braunstein, M. L., & Andersen, G. J. (2001). Perceived depth of 3-D objects in 3-D
scenes. Perception, 30, 681-692.
Braunstein,
M. L., Sauer, C. W., Feria, C. S.,
& Andersen, G. J. (2002).
Perceived internal depth in rotating and translating objects.
Perception, 31, 943-954.
Day 5: Scene Perception II - PowerPoint Presentation
Required readings:
Meng, J.
C., & Sedgwick, H. A. (2001). Distance perception mediated through nested contact
relations among surfaces. Perception
& Psychophysics, 63, 1-15.
Ni, R.,
Braunstein, M. L., & Andersen, G. J. (in press). Distance perception from motion
parallax and ground contact. Visual Cognition.
Ni, R.,
Braunstein, M. L., & Andersen, G. J.
(in press). Perception of scene layout
from optical contact, shadows and motion. Perception.
Optional reading:
Meng, J.
C., & Sedgwick, H. A. (2002). Distance perception across spatial
discontinuities. Perception &
Psychophysics, 64, 1-14.
Small group discussions
For
the first three days, theoretical issues will be discussed in the afternoon
sessions. For the remaining two days,
the design of new experiments will be explored.
Assessment
Students who take the course for credit will be asked
to write a research proposal (10 page maximum) for a study of some aspect of
the perception of the visual world.
Myron L. Braunstein
Myron
L. (Mike) Braunstein received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University
of Michigan in 1957 and 1961. He was employed as a Research Psychologist
at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (1960-1963) and at the Flight Safety
Foundation (1963-1965). He has been on
the faculty at the University of California,
Irvine, since 1965, where he is
currently Professor of Psychology in the Department of Cognitive Sciences. He is a fellow in the American Psychological
Association and the American Psychological Society and served as Editor of
Perception & Psychophysics from 1994 through 1998. He is author of Depth Perception Through
Motion (1976). His research has been
concerned with the role of motion in the perception of the visual world and how
motion combines with other information in the perception of three-dimensional
scenes.