Dynamic mechanisms of visually guided 3D motion tracking.

The continuous perception of motion-through-depth is critical for both navigation and interacting with objects in a dynamic three-dimensional (3D) world. Here we used 3D tracking to simultaneously assess the perception of motion in all directions, facilitating comparisons of responses to motion-through-depth to frontoparallel motion. Observers manually tracked a stereoscopic target as it moved in a 3D Brownian random walk. We found that continuous tracking of motion-through-depth was selectively impaired, showing different spatiotemporal properties compared with frontoparallel motion tracking. Two separate factors were found to contribute to this selective impairment. The first is the geometric constraint that motion-through-depth yields much smaller retinal projections than frontoparallel motion, given the same object speed in the 3D environment. The second factor is the sluggish nature of disparity processing, which is present even for frontoparallel motion tracking of a disparity-defined stimulus. Thus, despite the ecological importance of reacting to approaching objects, both the geometry of 3D vision and the nature of disparity processing result in considerable impairments for tracking motion-through-depth using binocular cues.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We characterize motion perception continuously in all directions using an ecologically relevant, manual target tracking paradigm we recently developed. This approach reveals a selective impairment to the perception of motion-through-depth. Geometric considerations demonstrate that this impairment is not consistent with previously observed spatial deficits (e.g., stereomotion suppression). However, results from an examination of disparity processing are consistent with the longer latencies observed in discrete, trial-based measurements of the perception of motion-through-depth.

[1]  R. Freeman,et al.  Stereoscopic depth processing in the visual cortex: a coarse-to-fine mechanism , 2003, Nature Neuroscience.

[2]  C W Tyler,et al.  Stereoscopic Depth Movement: Two Eyes Less Sensitive than One , 1971, Science.

[3]  Charles Wheatstone.  On some remarkable and hitherto unobserved phenomena of binocular vision. , 1962 .

[4]  Izumi Ohzawa,et al.  Mechanisms of stereoscopic vision: the disparity energy model , 1998, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[5]  G. Sperling,et al.  The functional architecture of human visual motion perception , 1995, Vision Research.

[6]  Bin Wang,et al.  Depth-of-focus of the human eye: theory and clinical implications. , 2006, Survey of ophthalmology.

[7]  Peter Neri,et al.  Coarse to fine dynamics of monocular and binocular processing in human pattern vision , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[8]  D Regan,et al.  Some dynamic features of depth perception. , 1973, Vision research.

[9]  Jay A. Hennig,et al.  A Distinct Mechanism of Temporal Integration for Motion through Depth , 2015, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[10]  L. Cormack,et al.  Disparity- and velocity-based signals for three-dimensional motion perception in human MT+ , 2009, Nature Neuroscience.

[11]  D H Brainard,et al.  The Psychophysics Toolbox. , 1997, Spatial vision.

[12]  A. Parker,et al.  Neuronal Computation of Disparity in V1 Limits Temporal Resolution for Detecting Disparity Modulation , 2005, Journal of Neuroscience.

[13]  Lawrence K. Cormack,et al.  Reflexive and voluntary control of smooth eye movements , 2013, Electronic Imaging.

[14]  Emily A. Cooper,et al.  Sensitivity and bias in the discrimination of two-dimensional and three-dimensional motion direction. , 2016, Journal of vision.

[15]  Leland S Stone,et al.  Stereomotion suppression and the perception of speed: accuracy and precision as a function of 3D trajectory. , 2006, Journal of vision.

[16]  Dario L. Ringach,et al.  Role of Global and Tuned Suppression Dynamics of Orientation Tuning in Macaque V 1 : The , 2003 .

[17]  James Gordon,et al.  Entrainment to Video Displays in Primary Visual Cortex of Macaque and Humans , 2004, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[18]  B. Julesz,et al.  Differences between monocular and binocular stroboscopic movement perception. , 1968, Vision research.

[19]  B. G. Cumming,et al.  Binocular mechanisms for detecting motion-in-depth , 1994, Vision Research.

[20]  Tai Sing Lee,et al.  Cooperative and Competitive Interactions Facilitate Stereo Computations in Macaque Primary Visual Cortex , 2009, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[21]  R. Gregory.  The Most Expensive Painting in the World , 2007, Perception.

[22]  D. H. Kelly.  Theory of flicker and transient responses. II. Counterphase gratings. , 1971, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[23]  D. Badcock,et al.  Depth-increment detection function for individual spatial channels. , 1985, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[24]  R C Miall,et al.  System Identification Applied to a Visuomotor Task: Near-Optimal Human Performance in a Noisy Changing Task , 2003, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[25]  D. G. Albrecht,et al.  Bayesian analysis of identification performance in monkey visual cortex: Nonlinear mechanisms and stimulus certainty , 1995, Vision Research.

[26]  D G Pelli,et al.  The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: transforming numbers into movies. , 1997, Spatial vision.

[27]  Thaddeus B. Czuba,et al.  Three-dimensional motion aftereffects reveal distinct direction-selective mechanisms for binocular processing of motion through depth. , 2011, Journal of vision.

[28]  W. N. Charman,et al.  Visual sensitivity to temporal change in focus and its relevance to the accommodation response , 1988, Vision Research.

[29]  R. Shapley,et al.  Temporal-frequency selectivity in monkey visual cortex , 1996, Visual Neuroscience.

[30]  D. Regan,et al.  Binocular and monocular stimuli for motion in depth: Changing-disparity and changing-size feed the same motion-in-depth stage , 1979, Vision Research.

[31]  Satoshi Kadowaki,et al.  Shape and fluctuation of cellular premixed flames: lean combustion system of CH4/O2/CO2 mixtures , 2013, J. Vis..

[32]  Johannes Burge,et al.  Continuous psychophysics: Target-tracking to measure visual sensitivity. , 2015, Journal of vision.

[33]  Melchi M. Michel,et al.  Intrinsic position uncertainty explains detection and localization performance in peripheral vision. , 2011, Journal of vision.

[34]  C. Wheatstone.  XVIII. Contributions to the physiology of vision. —Part the first. On some remarkable, and hitherto unobserved, phenomena of binocular vision , 1962, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.

[35]  W. Newsome,et al.  A selective impairment of motion perception following lesions of the middle temporal visual area (MT) , 1988, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[36]  C. S. Green,et al.  Visual Psychophysics and Physiological Optics Optimal Combination of the Binocular Cues to 3 D Motion , 2015 .

[37]  S. McKee,et al.  The imprecision of stereopsis , 1990, Vision Research.

[38]  D. Ringach,et al.  Dynamics of Spatial Frequency Tuning in Macaque V1 , 2002, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[39]  Denis G. Pelli,et al.  ECVP '07 Abstracts , 2007, Perception.

[40]  W. Newsome,et al.  Neural basis of a perceptual decision in the parietal cortex (area LIP) of the rhesus monkey. , 2001, Journal of neurophysiology.

[41]  A. Norcia,et al.  Temporal frequency limits for stereoscopic apparent motion processes , 1984, Vision Research.

[42]  M. Bertness,et al.  Cooperative and Competitive Interactions in the Recruitment of Marsh Elders , 1994 .

[43]  O. Braddick.  A short-range process in apparent motion. , 1974, Vision research.

[44]  Anthony M. Norcia,et al.  Electrophysiological evidence for the existence of coarse and fine disparity mechanisms in human , 1985, Vision Research.

[45]  D Regan,et al.  The dissociation of sideways movements from movements in depth: psychophysics. , 1973, Vision research.

[46]  D. H. Kelly.  Pattern detection and the two-dimensional Fourier transform: Flickering checkerboards and chromatic mechanisms , 1976, Vision Research.