Active heading control in simulated flight based on vertically extended contours

In two experiments, we manipulated the properties of 3-D objects and terrain texture in order to investigate their effects on active heading control during simulated flight. Simulated crosswinds were used to introduce a rotational component into the retinal flow field that presumably provided the visual cues used for heading control. An active control task was used so that the results could be generalized to real-world applications such as flight simulation. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of three types of terrain, each of which was presented with and without 3-D objects (trees), and found that the presence of 3-D objects was more important than terrain texture for precise heading control. In Experiment 2, we investigated the effects of varying the height and density of 3-D objects and found that increasing 3-D object density improved heading control, but that 3-D object height had only a small effect. On the basis of these results, we conclude that the vertical contours improved active heading control by enhancing the motion parallax information contained in the retinal flow.

[1]  R. Hetherington.  The Perception of the Visual World , 1952 .

[2]  Leonard G. Best,et al.  M2DART: a real image rear-projection display , 1999, Defense, Security, and Sensing.

[3]  W. Warren,et al.  The role of central and peripheral vision in postural control duringwalking , 1999, Perception & psychophysics.

[4]  W. Warren,et al.  Retinal Flow Is Sufficient for Steering During Observer Rotation , 2002, Psychological science.

[5]  H. C. Longuet-Higgins,et al.  The interpretation of a moving retinal image , 1980, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences.

[6]  Randolph Blake,et al.  Binocular depth discrimination depends on orientation , 1976 .

[7]  James A. Crowell,et al.  Estimating heading during eye movements , 1994, Vision Research.

[8]  D H Owen,et al.  The utility of motion parallax information for the perception and control of heading. , 1999, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[9]  Li Li,et al.  Perception of heading during rotation: sufficiency of dense motion parallax and reference objects , 2000, Vision Research.

[10]  M. Goodale,et al.  Size-contrast illusions deceive the eye but not the hand , 1995, Current Biology.

[11]  L. Jakobson,et al.  A neurological dissociation between perceiving objects and grasping them , 1991, Nature.

[12]  E. Andersen,et al.  VISUAL PERCEPTION AND THE RETINAL MOSAIC , 1923 .

[13]  G. Orban,et al.  Extracting 3D from Motion: Differences in Human and Monkey Intraparietal Cortex , 2002, Science.

[14]  Dennis M. Levi,et al.  Unmasking the mechanisms for Vernier acuity: evidence for a template model for Vernier acuity , 2000, Vision Research.

[15]  J H Rieger,et al.  Processing differential image motion. , 1985, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[16]  M. Goodale,et al.  The visual brain in action , 1995 .

[17]  Bruce Bridgeman,et al.  Processing spatial information in the sensorimotor branch of the visual system , 2000, Vision Research.

[18]  Julie M. Harris,et al.  Steering, Optic Flow, and the Respective Importance of Depth and Retinal Motion Distribution , 1999, Perception.

[19]  W. H. Warren.  The state of flow , 1998 .

[20]  Benoît G. Bardy,et al.  Motion parallax is used to control postural sway during walking , 1996, Experimental Brain Research.

[21]  Allen M. Waxman,et al.  Surface Structure and Three-Dimensional Motion from Image Flow Kinematics , 1985 .

[22]  Hong Wang,et al.  Spatial integration in position acuity , 1994, Vision Research.

[23]  J. Koenderink,et al.  Exterospecific component of the motion parallax field. , 1981, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[24]  Li Li,et al.  Path perception during rotation: influence of instructions, depth range, and dot density , 2004, Vision Research.