Abstract:Perception is crucial for the control of action, but perception need not be scaled accurately to produce accurate actions. This paper reviews evidence for an elegant new theory of locomotor space perception that is based on the dense coding of angular declination so that action control may be guided by richer feedback. The theory accounts for why so much direct-estimation data suggests that egocentric distance is underestimated despite the fact that action measures have been interpreted as indicating accurate … Show more
“…Whereas it is frequently supposed that accurate actions depend on accurate perceptions, adaptation to prism goggles shows that, even when perception remains inaccurate, action can simply adapt (Harris, 1963). People who estimate that a target at 10 m is only 7 m away may nonetheless walk 10 m (accurately) to that target with their eyes closed (Loomis, Da Silva, Fujita & Fukusima, 1992) but perceive themselves to have walked only 7 m because perceived walked distance is calibrated to their visual experience (Durgin, 2014; Durgin, Fox & Kim, 2003; Durgin et al, 2005; Riemer, Hölzl & Kleinböhl, 2014). Similarly, hills also feel extremely steep underfoot (Hajnal, Abdul-Malak & Durgin, 2011).…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…For example, directional visual variables used to control locomotor action might be densely coded in order to provide greater effective perceptual sensitivity for control (Durgin, 2014; Hajnal et al, 2011; Li & Durgin, 2009). Given that the sensitive control of action is normally tantamount for survival, this theory of dense angular coding provides an account of why systematic bias in the perception of space might be selected for by evolutionary processes.…”
What is the natural reference frame for seeing large-scale spatial scenes in locomotor action space? Prior studies indicate an asymmetric angular expansion in perceived direction in large-scale environments: Angular elevation relative to the horizon is perceptually exaggerated by a factor of 1.5, whereas azimuthal direction is exaggerated by a factor of about 1.25. Here participants made angular and spatial judgments when upright or on their sides in order to dissociate egocentric from allocentric reference frames. In Experiment 1 it was found that body orientation did not affect the magnitude of the up-down exaggeration of direction, suggesting that the relevant orientation reference frame for this directional bias is allocentric rather than egocentric. In Experiment 2, the comparison of large-scale horizontal and vertical extents was somewhat affected by viewer orientation, but only to the extent necessitated by the classic (5%) horizontal-vertical illusion (HVI) that is known to be retinotopic. Large-scale vertical extents continued to appear much larger than horizontal ground extents when observers lay sideways. When the visual world was reoriented in Experiment 3, the bias remained tied to the ground-based allocentric reference frame. The allocentric HVI is quantitatively consistent with differential angular exaggerations previously measured for elevation and azimuth in locomotor space.
“…Whereas it is frequently supposed that accurate actions depend on accurate perceptions, adaptation to prism goggles shows that, even when perception remains inaccurate, action can simply adapt (Harris, 1963). People who estimate that a target at 10 m is only 7 m away may nonetheless walk 10 m (accurately) to that target with their eyes closed (Loomis, Da Silva, Fujita & Fukusima, 1992) but perceive themselves to have walked only 7 m because perceived walked distance is calibrated to their visual experience (Durgin, 2014; Durgin, Fox & Kim, 2003; Durgin et al, 2005; Riemer, Hölzl & Kleinböhl, 2014). Similarly, hills also feel extremely steep underfoot (Hajnal, Abdul-Malak & Durgin, 2011).…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…For example, directional visual variables used to control locomotor action might be densely coded in order to provide greater effective perceptual sensitivity for control (Durgin, 2014; Hajnal et al, 2011; Li & Durgin, 2009). Given that the sensitive control of action is normally tantamount for survival, this theory of dense angular coding provides an account of why systematic bias in the perception of space might be selected for by evolutionary processes.…”
What is the natural reference frame for seeing large-scale spatial scenes in locomotor action space? Prior studies indicate an asymmetric angular expansion in perceived direction in large-scale environments: Angular elevation relative to the horizon is perceptually exaggerated by a factor of 1.5, whereas azimuthal direction is exaggerated by a factor of about 1.25. Here participants made angular and spatial judgments when upright or on their sides in order to dissociate egocentric from allocentric reference frames. In Experiment 1 it was found that body orientation did not affect the magnitude of the up-down exaggeration of direction, suggesting that the relevant orientation reference frame for this directional bias is allocentric rather than egocentric. In Experiment 2, the comparison of large-scale horizontal and vertical extents was somewhat affected by viewer orientation, but only to the extent necessitated by the classic (5%) horizontal-vertical illusion (HVI) that is known to be retinotopic. Large-scale vertical extents continued to appear much larger than horizontal ground extents when observers lay sideways. When the visual world was reoriented in Experiment 3, the bias remained tied to the ground-based allocentric reference frame. The allocentric HVI is quantitatively consistent with differential angular exaggerations previously measured for elevation and azimuth in locomotor space.
“…One of the goals of the present work was to test how well these data fit a recently proposed model that has been shown to fit outdoor hills and indoor surfaces alike (Durgin, 2014;, 2012. Durgin and Li (2012) showed that perceived slant exaggerates actual slant by a factor of about 1.5 for a range of angles up to 60°.…”
Previous work has shown that overestimates of geographic slant depend on the modality used (verbal or haptic). Recently, that line of reasoning has come into question for many reasons, not the least of which is that the typical method used for measuring "action" has been the use of a palm board, which is not well calibrated to any type of action toward slanted surfaces. In the present work, we investigated how a remote haptic task that has been well calibrated to action in previous work is related to verbal overestimates of slanted surfaces that are out of reach. The results show that haptic estimates are perceptually equivalent to the verbal overestimates that have been found in numerous previous studies. This work shows that the haptic perceptual system is scaled in the same way as the visual perceptual system for estimating the orientation of slanted surfaces that are out of reach.
“…Information in perspective assists the perception of 3-D scenes (Banks, Cooper, & Piazza, 2014;Bruggeman, Yonas, & Konczak, 2007;Durgin, 2014;Hammad, 2015;Juricevic & Kennedy, 2006;Sedgwick, 1986;Todorović, 2005;White, 1956;Williams & Durgin, 2015). However, for centuries scholars have argued about how (from Alhazen, 1039/1989, and Berkeley, 1709/1975, to moderns such as Kubovy, 1986;Yang & Purves, 2003;and Kennedy & Wnuczko, 2015).…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…We focus here on the perception of scene angles, and our suggestion is that foreshortening leads to major errors. Durgin (2014) noted that z distances are often underestimated visually. For a standing observer, distances from the vantage point, such as 20 m along a z-line, may be estimated as about 14 m; that is, Bnear-walking^z distances are underestimated visually by about 30 %.…”
Observers viewed pictures of a simulated ground plane and judged the orientation of lines pictured as lying on the ground. We presented three lines at a time and manipulated three factors: (1) the declination of the lines below the horizon (depicting distance to the target angles), (2) their length, and (3) whether or not they converged to a point on the horizon. Only the first factor had a substantial effect on these errors. We conclude that perspective foreshortening in pictures produces errors in perceived 3-D orientation. Our explanation is based on the different rates of change of elevation and azimuth with distance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.