Perception of plane orientation from self-generated andpassively observed optic flow

Jeroen Ja van Boxtel (1) , Mark Wexler (1) , Jacques Droulez (1)

1 LPPA - Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Perception et de l'Action

We investigate the perception of 3D plane orientation—focusing on the perceptionof tilt—from optic flow generated by the observer's movement around a simulatedstationary object, and compare the performance to that of an immobile observer receivinga replay of the same optic flow. We find that perception of plane orientationis more precise in the active than in the immobile case. In particular, in the caseof the immobile observer the presence of shear in optic flow drastically diminishesthe precision of tilt perception, whereas in the active observer this decrease in performanceis greatly reduced. Furthermore, perceived slant is better correlated withsimulated slant in the active observer. We conclude with a discussion of possiblesystematic biases in tilt perception from optic flow, as well as of various theoreticalexplanations for our results.

Mots clés: active vision; 3D vision; motion parallax

Domaines: Psychologie

Jeroen Ja van Boxtel, Mark Wexler, Jacques Droulez. Perception of plane orientation from self-generated andpassively observed optic flow. 2002. ⟨hal-00000070⟩