A Bayesian ideal observer for perceiving heading and rotation from optic flow

Ideal observer for heading judgments

Several aspects of the viewing situation affect the ability to determine heading from optical flow. These include the amount of depth variation and number of texture elements in the scene, the location and amount of the visual field stimulated, and the position of the focus of expansion within the stimulus. Without a quantification of the discrimination information provided by the stimuli prese...

Perceiving path from optic flow.

We examined how people perceive their path of traveling from optic flow. Observers viewed displays simulating their traveling on a circular path over a textured ground, a random-dot ground, or a dynamic random-dot ground display in which dots were periodically redrawn to remove extended dot motion trajectories (flow lines) in the flow field. Five viewing conditions were tested in which the simu...

A neural model for heading detection from optic flow

This paper describes a neural model developed for computing heading from optic flow caused by 3D translational egomotion. The model uses the distributed representation of optic flow directions in cortical areas MT and MSTd. Model MSTd cells are selective for specific directions of visual motion and have large receptive fields covering approximately a quarter of the visual field at different ret...

Perceiving circular heading in noncanonical flow fields.

Five experiments examined circular heading perception with optical flows that departed from the canonical form. Noncanonicity was achieved through nonrigidity of the environment (Experiments 1 and 2), oscillations of the point of observation (Experiment 3), and the bending of light (Experiments 4 and 5). In Experiments 1 and 2, perception was impaired more by nonrigidity of the ground plane tha...

Perception of Heading and Driving Distance From Optic Flow