A statistical explanation of visual space.

Full Abstract

The subjective visual space perceived by humans does not reflect a simple transformation of objective physical space; rather, perceived space has an idiosyncratic relationship with the real world. To date, there is no consensus about either the genesis of perceived visual space or the implications of its peculiar characteristics for visually guided behavior. Here we used laser range scanning to measure the actual distances from the image plane of all unoccluded points in a series of natural scenes. We then asked whether the differences between real and apparent distances could be explained by the statistical relationship of scene geometry and the observer. We were able to predict perceived distances in a variety of circumstances from the probability distribution of physical distances. This finding lends support to the idea that the characteristics of human visual space are determined probabilistically.

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Author information

Author/s: Yang, Zhiyong (Z); Purves, Dale (D);

Affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Box 3209, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. yang@neuro.duke.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Nature neuroscience (Nat Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jun; vol 6 (issue 6) : pp 632-40

Dates: Created 2003/05/28; Completed 2003/08/14; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12754512, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Space Perception - physiology
Spatial Behavior - physiology
Visual Fields - physiology

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