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When you walk into a large room, you perceive visual information that is both close to you in depth and farther in the background. Here, we investigated how initial scene representations are affected by information across depth. We examined the role of background and foreground information on scene gist by using chimera scenes (images with a foreground and background from different scene categories). Across three experiments, we found a foreground bias: Information in the foreground initially had a strong influence on the interpretation of the scene. This bias persisted when the initial fixation position was on the scene background and when the task was changed to emphasize scene information. We concluded that the foreground bias arises from initial processing of scenes for understanding and suggests that scene information closer to the observer is initially prioritized. We discuss the implications for theories of scene and depth perception.

Distance underestimations along the depth plane are widely found in virtual environments. However, past findings have shown that changes in the visual aspects of virtual reality settings do not lead to more accurate depth estimates. Therefore, we examined if nonvisual stimuli, namely, sounds, could serve as cues that affect observers' depth perception. Accordingly, we conducted two distance discrimination tasks to examine whether observers' depth localization is affected by a spatially incongruent sound. In Experiment 1, a spatially incongruent sound made a visual target appear farther away than a visual target presented with no sound only when a far-distance range (i.e., longer than 12 m) was introduced. Experiment 2 further indicated that the sound shifted visual localization only when audiovisual spatial disparity did not exceed 4°. Taken together, our findings suggest that the depth localization of a visual object in virtual reality can be altered by a spatially incongruent sound, and provide a potential approach that we can adopt a spatially incongruent sound as a cue to reduce the depth compression in VR.

Incoherent digital holography (IDH) requires no spatial coherence; however, it requires high temporal coherence for a light source to capture holograms with high spatial resolution. Temporal coherence is often enhanced with a bandpass filter, reducing the light utilization efficiency. Thus, there is a trade-off between spatial resolution and light utilization efficiency. In this paper, we derive a relationship between spatial resolution and temporal coherence by including a conceptual aperture, determined by temporal coherence, in our previous theory of spatial resolution for arbitrary depth planes [Opt. Express 27, 33634 (2019)OPEXFF1094-408710.1364/OE.27.033634]. Experimental evaluations verified the effectiveness of our theory, which is useful for the optimization of IDH setups and avoiding the trade-off.

In an integral imaging near-eye light field display using a microlens array, a point on a reconstructed depth plane (RDP) is reconstructed by sampled rays. Previous studies respectively suggested the accommodative response may shift from the RDP under two circumstances: (i) the RDP is away from the central depth plane (CDP) to introduce defocusing in sampled rays; (ii) the sampled ray number is too low. However, sampled rays’ defocusing and number may interact, and the interaction’s influence on the accommodative response has been little revealed. Therefore, this study adopts a proven imaging model providing retinal images to analyze the accommodative response. As a result, when the RDP and the CDP coincide, the accommodative response matches the RDP. When the RDP deviates from the CDP, defocusing is introduced in sampled rays, causing the accommodative response to shift from the RDP towards the CDP. For example, in a system with a CDP of 4 diopters (D) and 45 sampled rays, when the RDP is at 3, 2, 1, and 0 D, the accommodative response shifts to 3.25, 2.75, 2, and 1.75 D, respectively. With fewer rays, the accommodative response tends to further shift to the CDP. Eventually, with fewer than five rays, the eye accommodates to the CDP and loses the 3D display capacity. Moreover, under different RDPs, the ray number influences differently, and vice versa. An x-y polynomial equation containing three interactive terms is finally provided to reveal the interaction between RDP position and ray number. In comparison, in a pinhole-based system with no CDP, the accommodative response always matches the RDP when the sampled ray number is greater than five.

In a typical visual search task, participants search for single targets amongst displays containing non-overlapping objects that are presented on a single depth plane. Recent work has begun to examine displays containing overlapping objects that are presented on different depth planes to one another. It has been found that searching displays containing depth improves response accuracy by making participants more likely to fixate targets and to identify targets after fixating them. Here we extended this previous research by seeking first of all to replicate the previous pattern of results, and then to determine whether extensive training using depth in search transfers to two-dimensional displays. We provided participants with sixteen sessions of training with displays containing transparent overlapping objects presented in depth, and found a similar pattern of results to our previous study. We also found evidence that some performance improvements from the depth training transferred to search of two-dimensional displays that did not contain depth. Further examinations revealed that participants learn to search more exhaustively (i.e., search for longer) in displays containing depth. We conclude that depth does influence search performance but the influences depend very much on the stimuli and the degree of overlap within them.

Purpose Visual fields (VF) are measured monocularly at a single depth, yet real-life activities require people to interact with objects binocularly at multiple depths. To better characterize visual functioning in clinical vision conditions such as glaucoma, analyzing visual impairment in a depth-dependent fashion is required. We developed a depth-dependent integrated VF (DD-IVF) simulation and demonstrated its usefulness by evaluating DD-IVF defects associated with 12 glaucomatous archetypes of 24-2 VF. Methods The 12 archetypes included typical variants of superior and inferior nasal steps, arcuate and altitudinal defects, temporal wedge, biarcuate, and intact VFs. DD-IVF simulation maps the monocular 24-2 VF archetypes to binocular ones as a function of depth by incorporating three parameters of fixation, object, and interpupillary distances. At each location and depth plane, sensitivities are linearly interpolated from corresponding locations in monocular VF and returned as the higher value of the two. Results The simulation produced 144 DD-IVFs for multiple depths from combinations of 12 glaucomatous archetypes. The DD-IVFs are included as a Shiny app in the binovisualfields package. The number of impaired locations in the DD-IVFs varied according to the overlap of VF loss between eyes. Conclusions Our DD-IVF program revealed binocular functional visual defects associated with glaucomatous archetypes of the 24-2 pattern and is designed to do the same for empirically measured VFs. The comparison of identified visual impairments across depths may be informative for future empirical exploration of functional visual impairments in depth in glaucoma and other conditions leading to bilateral VF loss. Translational relevance Our DD-IVF program can reveal depth-dependent functional visual defects for clinical vision conditions where 24-2 test patterns are available.

Lightness contrast and assimilation are two opposite phenomena: contrast occurs when a grey target perceptually acquires a complementary colour than the bordering, inducing, surfaces; assimilation is when a grey target perceptually acquires the same colour component as the inducers. Previous research has shown that both phenomena are affected by the manipulation of depth between the inducers and target. However, different results have been reported; it is not clear whether contrast persists when inducers are non-coplanar with the target. Previous studies differ for the spatial configuration of the stimuli and the technique adopted to manipulate depth. The aim of this research was to measure the effects of manipulating the depth between inducers and target in comparable conditions. Results show that contrast persists, but largely reduces, after depth manipulation whilst assimilation reverses to contrast. Furthermore, interesting asymmetries between white and black inducers emerged with white inducers favouring contrast and black inducers favouring assimilation. These results provide further evidence that high-level processes of visual processing are involved in both phenomena; with important consequences for lightness theories.

Dynamic environments often contain features that change at slightly different times. Here we investigated how sensitivity to these slight timing differences depends on spatial relationships among stimuli. Stimuli comprised bilaterally presented plaid pairs that rotated, or radially expanded and contracted to simulate depth movement. Left and right hemifield stimuli initially moved in the same or opposite directions, then reversed directions at various asynchronies. College students judged whether the direction reversed first on the left or right-a temporal order judgment (TOJ). TOJ thresholds remained similar across conditions that required tracking only one depth plane, or bilaterally synchronized depth planes. However, when stimuli required simultaneously tracking multiple depth planes-counter-phased across hemifields-TOJ thresholds doubled or tripled. This effect depended on perceptual set. Increasing the certainty with which participants simultaneously tracked multiple depth planes reduced TOJ thresholds by 45 percent. Even complete certainty, though, failed to reduce multiple-depth-plane TOJ thresholds to levels obtained with single or bilaterally synchronized depth planes. Overall, the results demonstrate that global depth perception can alter local timing sensitivity. More broadly, the findings reflect a coarse-to-fine spatial influence on how we sense time.

Previous research reported ambiguous findings regarding the relationship of visuospatial attention and (stereoscopic) depth information. Some studies indicate that attention can be focused on a distinct depth plane, while other investigations revealed attentional capture from irrelevant items located in other, unattended depth planes. To evaluate whether task relevance of depth information modulates the deployment of attentional resources across depth planes, the additional singleton paradigm was adapted: Singletons defined by depth (i.e., displayed behind or in front of a central depth plane) or color (green against gray) were presented among neutral items and served as targets or (irrelevant) distractors. When participants were instructed to search for a color target, no attentional capture from irrelevant depth distractors was observed. In contrast, it took substantially longer to search for depth targets when an irrelevant distractor was presented simultaneously. Color distractors as well as depth distractors caused attentional capture, independent of the distractors' relative depth position (i.e., in front of or behind the target). However, slight differences in task performance were obtained depending on whether or not participants fixated within the target depth plane. Thus, the current findings indicate that attentional resources in general are uniformly distributed across different depth planes. Although task relevant depth singletons clearly affect the attentional system, this information might be processed subsequent to other stimulus features.

When looking for an object in a complex visual scene, Augmented Reality (AR) can assist search with visual cues persistently pointing in the target’s direction. The effectiveness of these visual cues can be reduced if they are placed at a different visual depth plane to the target they are indicating. To overcome this visual-depth problem, we test the effectiveness of adding simultaneous spatialized auditory cues that are fixed at the target’s location. In an experiment we manipulated which cue(s) were available (visual-only vs. visual + auditory), and which disparity plane relative to the target the visual cue was displayed on. Results show that participants were slower at finding targets when the visual cue was placed on a different disparity plane to the target. However, this slowdown in search performance could be substantially reduced with auditory cueing. These results demonstrate the importance of AR cross-modal cueing under conditions of visual uncertainty and show that designers should consider augmenting visual cues with auditory ones.

Previous studies have shown that interference effects in the flanker task are reduced when physical barriers (e.g., hands) are placed around rather than below a target flanked by distractors. One explanation of this finding is the referential coding hypothesis, whereby the barriers serve as reference objects for allocating attention. In five experiments, the generality of the referential coding hypothesis was tested by investigating whether interference effects are modulated by the placement of virtual barriers (e.g., parentheses). Modulation of flanker interference was found only when target and distractors differed in size and the virtual barriers were beveled wood-grain objects. Under these conditions and those of previous studies, the author conjectures that an impression of depth was produced when the barriers were around the target, such that the target was perceived to be on a different depth plane than the distractors. Perception of depth in the stimulus display might have led to referential coding of the stimuli in three-dimensional (3-D) space, influencing the allocation of attention beyond the horizontal and vertical dimensions. This 3-D referential coding hypothesis is consistent with research on selective attention in 3-D space that shows flanker interference is reduced when target and distractors are separated in depth.

Allocation of attention across different depth planes is a prerequisite for visual selection in a three-dimensional environment. Previous research showed that participants successfully used stereoscopic depth information to focus their attention. This, however, does not mean that salient information from other depth planes is completely neglected. The present study investigated the question of whether competing visual information is differentially processed when displayed in a single depth plane or across two different depth planes. Moreover, it was of interest whether potential effects were further modulated by the items' relative spatial position (near or far). In three experiments participants performed a variant of the additional singleton paradigm. Targets were defined by stereoscopic depth information and as such appeared either in a near or far depth plane. Distractor stimuli were displayed in the same or in the opposed depth plane. The results consistently showed that visual selection was slower when target and distractor coincided within the same depth plane. There was no general advantage for targets presented in near or far depth planes. However, differential effects of target depth plane and the target-distractor relation were observed. Selection of near targets was more affected by distractors within the same depth plane while far targets were identified more slowly when the amount of information in closer depth planes increased. While attentional resources could not be exclusively centered to a distinct depth plane, the allocation of attention might be organized along an egocentric gradient through space and varies with the organization of the visual surrounding.

When attention is oriented to a peripheral cue, the processing of nearby stimuli is facilitated. This brief period of facilitation is followed by a long-lasting inhibitory effect, during which there is a delayed response to stimuli presented at a previously cued location. Although the mechanisms underlying the facilitatory effect of attentional orienting/reorienting in three-dimensional (3-D) space have been documented, there is not yet consensus as to how attention orients/reorients in depth during the later inhibitory phase (i.e., inhibition of return [IOR]). In the present study, by incorporating the Posner exogenous cueing paradigm into a virtual 3-D environment, we aimed to investigate whether an IOR effect occurs when attention orients and reorients at the uncued depth in the same hemispace, and whether the IOR effects are the same or different when attention orients/reorients along different trajectories in 3-D space. Our results showed asymmetrical spatial IOR effects when attention was oriented/reoriented at the uncued depth in the same hemispace. Spatial IOR was depth-specific when targets appeared in the near depth plane, whereas it was not depth-specific when targets appeared in the far depth plane. Apart from these results, we also found that attention oriented/reoriented at the same depth but in a different hemispace experienced a reduction in IOR size, thus indicating that the direction-specific spatial IOR mechanisms when attention orients/reorients along different trajectories are different. Taken together, our results suggest that spatial IOR is not entirely "depth-blind," and that the ecological importance of the 3-D world influences the direction of attentional shifts of spatial IOR in 3-D space.

In this Letter, a Gabor superlens with variable focus is presented. This configuration uses tunable liquid lenses in the third microlens array of the Gabor superlens. By applying voltage, the radius of curvature of the micro-tunable doublet arrays changes, and the Gabor conditions are fulfilled at different focal planes. As a consequence, the magnification of the image at the focal planes changes, and a zoom effect is observed. The marginal depth plane for this system goes from 0.86 to 0.89 mm. The optical simulation, calculations, and results of the simulated optical system performance are presented.

Multiple regions in the human brain are dedicated to accomplish the feat of object recognition; yet our brains must also compute the 2D and 3D locations of the objects we encounter in order to make sense of our visual environments. A number of studies have explored how various object category-selective regions are sensitive to and have preferences for specific 2D spatial locations in addition to processing their preferred-stimulus categories, but there is no survey of how these regions respond to depth information. In a blocked functional MRI experiment, subjects viewed a series of category-specific (i.e., faces, objects, scenes) and unspecific (e.g., random moving dots) stimuli with red/green anaglyph glasses. Critically, these stimuli were presented at different depth planes such that they appeared in front of, behind, or at the same (i.e., middle) depth plane as the fixation point (Experiment 1) or simultaneously in front of and behind fixation (i.e., mixed depth; Experiment 2). Comparisons of mean response magnitudes between back, middle, and front depth planes reveal that face and object regions OFA and LOC exhibit a preference for front depths, and motion area MT+ exhibits a strong linear preference for front, followed by middle, followed by back depth planes. In contrast, scene-selective regions PPA and OPA prefer front and/or back depth planes (relative to middle). Moreover, the occipital place area demonstrates a strong preference for “mixed” depth above and beyond back alone, raising potential implications about its particular role in scene perception. Crucially, the observed depth preferences in nearly all areas were evoked irrespective of the semantic stimulus category being viewed. These results reveal that the object category-selective regions may play a role in processing or incorporating depth information that is orthogonal to their primary processing of object category information.

A pico-projector is a compact and mobile projector that has an infinite focus. We apply the pico-projector to a projection-type integral imaging system, which can expand the image depth to form multiple central depth planes. In a projection-type integral imaging system, the image flipping problem arises because the expanded elemental images pass through a lens array. To solve this problem, we propose the ray tracing of a pico-projector at a central depth plane and compensate the elemental image using a pixel-mapping process. Experiments to verify the proposed method are performed, and the results are presented.

Standard models of visual search have focused upon asking participants to search for a single target in displays where the objects do not overlap one another, and where the objects are presented on a single depth plane. This stands in contrast to many everyday visual searches wherein variations in overlap and depth are the norm, rather than the exception. Here, we addressed whether presenting overlapping objects on different depths planes to one another can improve search performance. Across 4 different experiments using different stimulus types (opaque polygons, transparent polygons, opaque real-world objects, and transparent X-ray images), we found that depth was primarily beneficial when the displays were transparent, and this benefit arose in terms of an increase in response accuracy. Although the benefit to search performance only appeared in some cases, across all stimulus types, we found evidence of marked shifts in eye-movement behavior. Our results have important implications for current models and theories of visual search, which have not yet provided detailed accounts of the effects that overlap and depth have on guidance and object identification processes. Moreover, our results show that the presence of depth information could aid real-world searches of complex, overlapping displays. (PsycINFO Database Record

In this review, we evaluate the neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and psychophysical evidence relevant to the claim that multisensory information is processed differently depending on the region of space in which it happens to be presented. We discuss how the majority of studies of multisensory interactions in the depth plane that have been conducted to date have focused on visuotactile and audiotactile interactions in frontal peripersonal space and underline the importance of such multisensory interactions in defining peripersonal space. Based on our review of studies of multisensory interactions in depth, we question the extent to which peri- and extra-personal space (both frontal and rear) are characterized by differences in multisensory interactions (as evidenced by multisensory stimuli producing a different behavioral outcome as compared to unisensory stimulation). In addition to providing an overview of studies of multisensory interactions in different regions of space, our goal in writing this review has been to demonstrate that the various kinds of multisensory interactions that have been documented may follow very similar organizing principles. Multisensory interactions in depth that involve tactile stimuli are constrained by the fact that such stimuli typically need to contact the skin surface. Therefore, depth-related preferences of multisensory interactions involving touch can largely be explained in terms of their spatial alignment in depth and their alignment with the body. As yet, no such depth-related asymmetry has been observed in the case of audiovisual interactions. We therefore suggest that the spatial boundary of peripersonal space and the enhanced audiotactile and visuotactile interactions that occur in peripersonal space can be explained in terms of the particular spatial alignment of stimuli from different modalities with the body and that they likely reflect the result of prior multisensory experience.

It has been documented that due to limited attentional resources, the size of the attentional focus is inversely correlated with processing efficiency. Moreover, by adopting a variety of two-dimensional size illusions induced by pictorial depth cues (e.g., the Ponzo illusion), previous studies have revealed that the perceived, rather than the retinal, size of an object determines its detection. It remains unclear, however, whether and how the retinal versus perceived size of a cue influences the process of attentional orienting to subsequent targets, and whether the corresponding influencing processes differ between two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) space. In the present study, we incorporated the dot probe paradigm with either a 2-D Ponzo illusion, induced by pictorial depth cues, or a virtual 3-D world in which the Ponzo illusion turned into visual reality. By varying the retinal size of the cue while keeping its perceived size constant (Exp. 1), we found that a cue with smaller retinal size significantly facilitated attentional orienting as compared to a cue with larger retinal size, and that the effects were comparable between 2-D and 3-D displays. Furthermore, when the pictorial background was removed and the cue display was positioned in either the farther or the closer depth plane (Exp. 2), or when both the depth and the background were removed (Exp. 3), the retinal size, rather than the depth, of the cue still affected attentional orienting. Taken together, our results suggest that the retinal size of a cue plays the crucial role in the visuospatial orienting of attention in both 2-D and 3-D.

When attention is oriented to a peripheral visual event, observers respond faster to stimuli presented at a cued location than at an uncued location. Following initial reaction time facilitation responses are slower to stimuli subsequently displayed at the cued location, an effect known as inhibition of return (IOR). Both facilitatory and inhibitory effects have been extensively investigated in two-dimensional space. Facilitation has also been documented in three-dimensional space, however the presence of IOR in 3D space is unclear, possibly because IOR has not been evaluated in an empty 3D space. Determining if IOR is sensitive to the depth plane of stimuli or if only their bi-dimensional location is inhibited may clarify the nature of the IOR. To address this issue, we used an attentional cueing paradigm in three-dimensional (3D) space. Results were obtained from fourteen participants showed IOR components in 3D space when binocular disparity was used to induce depth. We conclude that attentional orienting in depth operates as efficiently as in the bi-dimensional space. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Our understanding of how the visual system processes motion transparency, the phenomenon by which multiple directions of motion are perceived to coexist in the same spatial region, has grown considerably in the past decade. There is compelling evidence that the process is driven by global-motion mechanisms. Consequently, although transparently moving surfaces are readily segmented over an extended space, the visual system cannot separate two motion signals that coexist in the same local region. A related issue is whether the visual system can detect transparently moving surfaces simultaneously or whether the component signals encounter a serial ‘bottleneck’ during their processing. Our initial results show that, at sufficiently short stimulus durations, observers cannot accurately detect two superimposed directions; yet they have no difficulty in detecting one pattern direction in noise, supporting the serial-bottleneck scenario. However, in a second experiment, the difference in performance between the two tasks disappears when the component patterns are segregated. This discrepancy between the processing of transparent and non-overlapping patterns may be a consequence of suppressed activity of global-motion mechanisms when the transparent surfaces are presented in the same depth plane. To test this explanation, we repeated our initial experiment while separating the motion components in depth. The marked improvement in performance leads us to conclude that transparent motion signals are represented simultaneously.

Distance is commonly underperceived by up to 50 % in virtual environments (VEs), in contrast to relatively accurate real world judgments. Experiments reported by Geuss, Stefanucci, Creem-Regehr, and Thompson (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38, 1242-1253, 2012) indicate that the exocentric distance separating two objects in a VE is underperceived when the objects are oriented in the sagittal plane (depth extents), but veridically perceived when oriented in a frontoparallel plane (frontal extents). The authors conclude that “distance underestimation in the [VE] generalizes to intervals in the depth plane, but not to intervals in the frontal plane.” The current experiment evaluated an alternative hypothesis that the accurate judgments of frontal extents reported by Geuss et al. were due to a fortunate balance of underperception caused by the VE and overperception of frontal relative to depth extents. Participants judged frontal and depth extents in the classroom VE used by Geuss et al. and in a sparser VE containing only a grass-covered ground plane. Judgments in the classroom VE replicated findings by Geuss et al., but judgments in the grass VE show underperception of both depth and frontal extents, indicating that frontal extents are not immune to underperception in VEs.

In this paper, we analyze the limitation on the expressible depth range that is one major problem of integral imaging. We provide the explanation that exactly predicts the experimental results and the way to evaluate the expressible depth range numerically. We also give the design method for the multi-central depth plane integral imaging system. Finally, we will show the experimental results for verification.

We report a new visual illusion, “directionless vection.” When expanding and contracting optic flows are simultaneously presented in the same depth plane, observers can perceive illusory self-motion (vection) without direction.

We propose a method for enhancing depth-of-field, in which the spot size on a marginal depth plane is reduced. This method is implemented in a projection-type integral imaging system using a negative lens array without a diffuser. Numerical simulation results show that the spot size is merely 5.7% of that in a conventional system. Thus, the depth-of-field in the proposed system is enhanced by 17.5 times over that in a conventional system. Optical experiments confirm good agreement between the results and numerical predictions.

Even though binocular disparity is a very well-studied cue to depth, the function relating disparity and perceived depth has been characterized only for the case of horizontal disparities. We sought to determine the general relationship between disparity and depth for a particular set of stimuli. The horizontal disparity direction is a special case, albeit an especially important one. Non-horizontal disparities arise from a number of sources under natural viewing condition. Moreover, they are implicit in patterns that are one-dimensional, such as gratings, lines, and edges, and in one-dimensional components of two-dimensional patterns, where a stereo matching direction is not well-defined. What function describes perceived depth in these cases? To find out, we measured the phase disparities that produced depth matches between a reference stimulus and a test stimulus. The reference stimulus was two-dimensional, a plaid; the test stimulus was one-dimensional, a grating. We find that horizontal disparity is no more important than other disparity directions in determining depth matches between these two stimuli. As a result, a grating and a plaid appear equal in depth when their horizontal disparities are, in general, unequal. Depth matches are well predicted by a simple disparity vector calculation; they survive changes in component parameters that conserve these vector quantities. The disparity vector rule also describes how the disparities of 1-D components might contribute to the perceived depth of 2-D stimuli.

We examined Kaufman, Bacon, and Barroso's (1973) finding that perceived depth covaries with relative luminance of the two half-fields of the stereogram. Five subjects were shown two sets of stereograms: one with three lines and another with random dots. In each trial, they reported the apparent depth plane produced by one of 15 different relative luminances of the lines or the mid portions of the random dots. The direction and the magnitude of perceived depth as a function of the relative luminance varied across subjects. It is argued that the stimulus should be considered as being Wheatstone-Panum's Limiting Case rather than that requires processing of binocular retinal disparity.

Gratings with different disparities are sometimes seen as transparent surfaces, each with a distinct depth, when they are superimposed, and sometimes they are seen as a coherent plaid confined to a single depth plane--stereo analogs of transparent and coherent motion. Briefly presented sinusoidal gratings of similar spatial frequencies are seen to cohere in depth. The resulting plaid generally appears in a depth plane different from that of either component grating viewed separately; the plaid may even appear on the oppose side of fixation from the component gratings. Under similar viewing conditions, squarewave gratings are typically seen as transparent. Objective measures, gathered here using depth-order discriminations, show that the perception of transparency between squarewave gratings requires a minimum disparity difference that varies with the gratings' orientations. Gratings that are near orthogonal in orientation, or that give the plaid a near-horizontal disparity, favor the perception of coherence. Gratings that form a plaid having a large ratio of vertical to horizontal disparities favor the perception of transparency. The data are consistent with a Bayesian prior favoring single surfaces when disparities are small and near-horizontal. Disparities that are large or non-horizontal are more likely to be aperture disparities that result from viewing separate but overlapping surfaces. The sinewave-squarewave difference leads to the conclusion that coherence between components is required both for seeing a broadband pattern in a single depth plane and for seeing it in a different depth plane from other superimposed patterns.

By adoption of double-device systems, integral imaging can be enhanced in image depth, viewing angle, or image size. Theoretical analyses are done for the double-image-plane integral imaging systems. Both ray optics analysis and wave optics analysis confirm that the double-device integral imaging systems can pick up and display images at two separate image planes. The analysis results are also valuable in the understanding of the conventional integral imaging systems for image positions off the central depth plane.

Random-dot autostereograms (RDASs) were used to investigate attention shifts along the sagittal plane in distractor-free tasks of high perceptual load. In three experiments using a same/different comparison task, the shape of the gradient over five different depths was examined and the conditions under which the gradient is and is not observed were compared. When the target set consisted of five similar objects, a robust asymmetric depth gradient was observed. When the target set consisted of two dissimilar objects, no gradient was observed. The results support a hypothesis of a viewer-centered asymmetric attention gradient in the depth plane that is dependent on perceptual or attentional load defined by target-set discriminability.

Adapting to a chromatic light can alter the color appearance of other lights in view. The chromatic adapting effect is measured here with the test and adapting field perceived in the same depth plane, or perceived in different depth planes (using stereo disparity). The measurements show only a weak, though consistent, shift in the appearance of the test when adapting field and test are perceived in different depth planes, compared to when they are in the same plane. Adding complexity to the adapting stimulus, in the form of a second chromatic light surrounding the background, alters the appearance of the test but shows no dependence on the depth relations. Overall, there is only a small difference in chromatic adaptation caused by introducing a three-dimensional representation of these stimuli.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate how color and stereoscopic depth information are used to segregate objects for visual search in three-dimensional (3-D) visual space. Eight observers were asked to indicate the alphanumeric category (letter or digit) of the target which had its unique color and unique depth plane. In Experiment 1, distractors sharing a common depth plane or a common color appeared in spatial contiguity in the xy plane. The results suggest that visual search for the target involves examination of kernels formed by homogeneous items sharing the same color and depth. In Experiment 2, the xy contiguity of distractors sharing a common color or a common depth plane was varied. The results showed that when target-distractor distinction becomes more difficult on one dimension, the other dimension becomes more important in performing visual search, as indicated by a larger effect on search time. This suggests that observers can make optimal use of the information available. Finally, color had a larger effect on search time than did stereoscopic depth. Overall, the results support models of visual processing which maintain that perceptual segregation and selective attention are determined by similarity among objects in 3-D visual space on both spatial and nonspatial stimulus dimensions.

Two experiments were performed to investigate the impacts of binocular disparity and rivalry on illusory motion. The figure used by Kitaoka(2004) were modified and consisted of five disks. In the experiment 1, the effect of binocular disparity was tested when components of illusory motion figure were placed in a different depth plane. In the experiment 2, the effect of binocular rivalry was tested. The result showed that illusory motion was reduced when the binocular disparity was added. Also, illusory motion was dramatically reduced or vanished when binocular rivalry condition was introduced. These results suggest that the illusory motion was processed prior to the integration of binocular information.

Purpose: Motion-induced blindness is a striking phenomenon where salient static visual stimuli “disappear” for seconds at a time in the presence of specific moving patterns. The present study investigates whether the phenomenon is due to surface completion in the presentation. Stereo-depth information was added to the motion stimulus to create depth ordering between the static and moving components of the display and dot disappearance was measured. Methods: A 6°×6° field composed of 49 equally spaced blue cross elements was rotated about its center-point at 30 °/s. Superimposed on the grid were three yellow dots, equally spaced on an imaginary circle with radius 1.75°. Stimulus presentation was dichoptic, using a modified Wheatstone stereoscope. During each 30 second trial subjects viewed a fixation cross in the center of the display and indicated dot disappearance by pressing and holding any of three keys (one per dot) then releasing the key when the dot reappeared. Three conditions were tested: 1) Grid presented stereoscopically in front of the dots, 2) Grid presented at same depth, 3) Grid presented behind the dots. Results: Results for all subjects indicate an effect of depth ordering. When the grid was presented in front of the yellow dots, the amount of disappearance was greater than when the two were presented on the same depth plane, which was greater than when the grid was presented behind the yellow dots. The monocular information was the same for the non-zero depth conditions. A second experiment showed that an induced Kanizsa surface (four “pac-man” elements) yielded similar results to the grid experiment, while the same elements rotated 180 degrees (no induced surface) did not. Conclusions: Our data indicate that motion-induced blindness results from surface completion of the moving components of the display. A surface resulting from these moving elements acts as a perceptual occluder, masking the static dots.

Background: The responses of disparity selective cells in V2 can be influenced by stimuli outside their receptive fields. In particular, the response is often higher when the receptive field is near a depth edge, e.g., a border between two different depth planes composed of random dots (von der Heydt, Zhou, and Friedman, Vision Research, 2000). In addition, cell responses can reflect the phenomenon of disparity capture, in which global surfaces or grouping cues dictate the local interpretation of stimulus depth. Hence, cell responses to the surface area of a depth plane are tuned to the depth values at the surface boundary beyond the receptive fields (Bakin, Nakayama, and Gilbert, J. Neuroscience, 2000). Method: A model of the cortex with intra-cortical interactions is constructed to study how contextual influences contribute to the stereo grouping and segmentation phenomena observed physiologically. Nearby model pyramidal cells influence each other via monosynaptic facilitation or disynaptic inhibition. Input and neural representation focuses on the stereo domain. Hence, the input stimuli are dots in depth space without orientation, color, or motion information. The model cells are binocular and receive inputs from both the correct and false matches between stimuli dots in the left and right eyes, as suggested from the physiological data about the responses of V1 cells (Cumming and Parker, J. Neuroscience, 2000), which provide inputs to V2. Hence, the initial responses to an input pattern come from many model cells corresponding to all possible stereo matches. Contextual influences modify the cell responses, such that after the initial transient, the responses from the model are significant only from cells whose receptive fields correspond to the correct matches only. In particular, the model reproduces the physiological disparity capture and depth edge highlights.

The ability of human beings to shift their vergence between multiple disparity stimuli was investigated. The stimulus was a stereogram consisting of a single bar (1× 0.3°) projected in the center of a larger circular pattern (28° dia) of dots (0.3° dia). In the initial condition, the subjects perceived a single bar in the center of a cluster of dots, all lying in a single depth plane. The subjects were instructed to fixate either the bar or one of the dots close to the bar. Stepwise changes of target-vergence of either the bar, or of all dots, or of both configurations in opposite directions, were imposed in a random sequence. Under these conditions, ocular vergence was controlled by the target-vergence of the selected target at all times, even if this implied a loss of binocular fusion for the non-selected target. The effect of target selection per se, without concomitant changes in retinal position of the selected target, was studied in two experienced subjects with stabilized image techniques. The subjects viewed a configuration containing short vertical bars placed at either side of a long vertical bar. The short bars on different sides of the long bar had opposite (crossed or uncrossed) disparities. After stabilization of the configuration while the subject fixated the long bar, subjects attempted to fixate the short bars alternatingly. Due to the stabilization the ensuing eye movements did not affect the retinal positions, and thus the disparity, of the bars. Attempted fixation of a para-foveally viewed, short bar induced vergence responses in the appropriate direction. These vergence responses would have reduced disparity of the selected target if this had not been stabilized, at the expense of increasing disparity of non-selected targets. From this result we conclude that, by the mechanism of target selection, disparity information of the selected target is gated to a subsystem processing disparity which controls vergence.

The research in the present article was designed to investigate the phenomenon of stereoscopic transparency, in which overlapping surfaces are perceived simultaneously at different depths in the same visual direction. Four experiments are reported that examined observers’ abilities to achieve this phenomenon over a wide range of stimulus conditions. The results indicate that (1) the perceptual segregation of overlapping transparent surfaces is significantly more difficult than are comparable judgments for opaque surfaces; (2) the perception of transparency is impaired by increased depth differences between the overlapping surfaces or by increased element density; and (3) the effect is facilitated when the overlapping depth planes are distinguished by color, but not when they are distinguished by element orientation. The theoretical significance of these results is considered within the context of current competitive/cooperative models of stereo matching.

Based on the conventional ray‐tracing principle, a fast numerical algorithm is developed that calculates averaged propagation loss and reverberation of underwater sound. The averaging is performed by summing incoherently the contributions of individual ray bundles to each of the rectangular cells into which the range/depth plane is divided. The resulting matrix description of the average intensity field is used to calculate reverberation. The propagation‐loss algorithm is preliminarily tested against mathematical test functions and measured data.Subject Classification: [43]30.20, [43]30.40; [43]85.84.

Flickering areas of the visual field are perceived predominantly as backgrounds and the adjacent nonflickering areas are seen as figures. The effect of flicker on anchoring a region as ground is optimal within a limited range of temporal frequencies. Within the temporal frequencies used in the present experiments, the effect was greatest at 6.3 and 8.3 Hz. At these flicker rates the flickering regions were seen as ground over 75% of the time, whereas at 1.4 and 12.5 Hz the flickering regions were seen as ground less than 60% of the time. The average temporal luminance of the flickering and nonflickering areas was kept equal, so the figure-ground perception we found is not due to any luminance differences between the two regions. The flickering areas seen as ground were also perceived to lie on a depth plane behind the nonflickering figure regions. The amount of perceived depth separation increased as the regions became more perceptually anchored. The temporal tuning function offlicker-induced ground appears to be similar to those of visual pathways most sensitive to high temporal frequency.

A luminance gradient was constructed consisting of four successive steps of decreasing luminance which were staggered in depth. With monocular viewing, all steps appeared in the same apparent depth plane, and clear Mach bands were visible. With binocular viewing, however, the steps appeared to be at different distances, and Mach bands were greatly attenuated or absent even though each monocular view contained an adequate stimulus for their perception. Implications of this finding for retinal accounts of brightness contrast effects are discussed.

Qualitative and quantitative scattering measurements at high acoustic frequencies were compared to the distributions of zooplankton, nekton, and other oceanographic measurements. Scattering was recorded at 100 and 200 kHz from depths of high euphauslid concentrations. No scattering was recorded at 11 kHz at these depths on some cruises. When scattering was recorded at 11 kHz at the depths of the high‐frequency scattering layer, the scattering records were qualitatively different and indicated the presence of fishes within the high‐frequency scattering layers. The high‐frequency scattering was also often correlated with oceanographic discontinuities such as thermoclines, haloclines, oxyclines, and the chlorophyll maximum. Variations in scattering strengths at the same depth plane were recorded. This patchiness in distribution of scattering at the high frequencies appeared to be correlated with aggregations of euphausiids. [Work supported by ONR.]

Perturbations in mode eigenvalues, associated with interactions between two ducts, were first investigated by the authors in 1969. The investigation of this interaction is extended to the frequency dependence of the coupling between ducts. A numerical measure of this coupling has been developed and used to determine optimum frequencies of propagation between a source located within one duct and a receiver located within the other duct. These optima occur near frequencies where the phase velocity difference between two adjacent modes forms a minimum. The coupling is strongly frequency dependent. For an example from the North Atlantic, one optimum frequency was found at 53.23 Hz. Propagation loss versus range plots show about 10 dB less loss at 53.23 Hz as compared to 64 Hz, where the mode phase velocities are well separated. Contour plots of propagation loss in the range‐receiver depth plane have been generated for a source in the upper duct. At 53.23 Hz these plots exhibit a range periodic transfer of ene...