The independence of size perception and distance perception

This chapter examines the development of a geometrical framework for understanding and explaining spatial aspects of visual perception, including perception of the sizes, shapes, and positions of things in the field of view. The structure of this framework is built on the fact that vision typically occurs in straight lines (rectilinearly). Within this framework, the chapter selectively focuses on size perception. This focus allows for a comparative examination of how a single problem was treated geometrically by various theorists, ancient, medieval, and modern. The theorists examined are Euclid and Ptolemy, who were extramissionists, and Ibn al-Haytham, Kepler, Descartes, and Berkeley, each of whom adopted, in one way or another, an intromissionist scheme. In comparing Descartes and Berkeley, notice is taken of Berkeley’s interpretive bent in treating Descartes’s account of distance perception in a way that requires mental calculation, where Descartes sometimes offered psychophysiological mechanisms (avoiding mental calculation).

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Relationship Between Auditory Context and Visual Distance Perception: Effect of Musical Expertise in the Ability to Translate Reverberation Cues Into Room-Size Perception

Perception ◽

10.1177/0301006618776225 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 47 (8) ◽

pp. 873-880

Author(s):

Pablo E. Etchemendy ◽

Ignacio Spiousas ◽

Ramiro Vergara

Keyword(s):

Distance Perception ◽

Anechoic Chamber ◽

The Other ◽

Size Perception ◽

Size Information ◽

Musical Expertise ◽

Room Size ◽

Visual Distance

In a recently published work by our group [ Scientific Reports, 7, 7189 (2017)], we performed experiments of visual distance perception in two dark rooms with extremely different reverberation times: one anechoic ( T ∼ 0.12 s) and the other reverberant ( T ∼ 4 s). The perceived distance of the targets was systematically greater in the reverberant room when contrasted to the anechoic chamber. Participants also provided auditorily perceived room-size ratings which were greater for the reverberant room. Our hypothesis was that distance estimates are affected by room size, resulting in farther responses for the room perceived larger. Of much importance to the task was the subjects’ ability to infer room size from reverberation. In this article, we report a postanalysis showing that participants having musical expertise were better able to extract and translate reverberation cues into room-size information than nonmusicians. However, the degree to which musical expertise affects visual distance estimates remains unclear.

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The Mechanisms of Size Constancy

Multisensory Research ◽

10.1163/22134808-00002483 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 28 (3-4) ◽

pp. 253-283 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Irene Sperandio ◽

Philippe A. Chouinard

Keyword(s):

Visual Experience ◽

Distance Perception ◽

Brain Area ◽

Size Perception ◽

Retinal Images ◽

Size Constancy ◽

Constant Size ◽

Sensory Modalities ◽

The Brain

Size constancy is the result of cognitive scaling operations that enable us to perceive an object as having the same size when presented at different viewing distances. In this article, we review the literature on size and distance perception to form an overarching synthesis of how the brain might combine retinal images and distance cues of retinal and extra-retinal origin to produce a perceptual visual experience of a world where objects have a constant size. A convergence of evidence from visual psychophysics, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, electrophysiology and neuroimaging highlight the primary visual cortex (V1) as an important node in mediating size–distance scaling. It is now evident that this brain area is involved in the integration of multiple signals for the purposes of size perception and does much more than fulfil the role of an entry position in a series of hierarchical cortical events. We also discuss how information from other sensory modalities can also contribute to size–distance scaling and shape our perceptual visual experience.

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Relative Size Perception at a Distance is Best at Eye Level

Perception ◽

10.1068/v970190 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽

pp. 89-89

Author(s):

M Bertamini ◽

T L Yang ◽

D R Proffitt

Keyword(s):

Visual Field ◽

Distance Perception ◽

Relative Size ◽

Size Perception ◽

Horizon Line ◽

The Relationship ◽

Source Of Information

We studied the role of the horizon line as a source of information about the relative size of objects at a distance. Relative-size judgements (2AFC) were collected for two objects at 30.5 m and 23.8 m away from the observer to assess how performance depends on the relationship between the size of the objects and the eye level of the observer. In three experiments in an indoor hallway and in one experiment outdoors, accuracy was higher for objects in the neighbourhood of eye level. We consider these results in the light of two hypotheses: one which proposes that observers localise the horizon as a reference for judging relative size, ie on the basis of the horizon ratio, and another which proposes that observers perceive the general neighbourhood of the horizon and then employ a height-in-visual-field heuristic. The finding that relative-size judgements are best around the horizon implies the use of information independent of distance perception in perceiving size.

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