The Relative Contribution of Relative Height, Linear Perspective, and Texture Gradients to Pictorial Depth Perception in 7-Month-Old Infants

Abstract

In the current preferential-reaching experiments, 7-month-olds were tested for their ability to respond to a combination of relative height and texture gradients. The infants were presented with a display in which these pictorial depth cues specified that two toys were at different distances. The experimental displays differed from the textured surfaces employed in earlier studies in that linear perspective of the contours of the texture elements was omitted. Experiment A shows that the infants still preferred to reach for the apparently nearer toy under monocular, but not binocular, viewing conditions, indicating that they responded to the pictorial depth cues. In experiment B, relative height and texture provided the infants with conflicting information for depth. Here, relative height outperformed texture information. A statistical comparison between the experiments as well as systematic comparisons with experimental conditions from an earlier study (Hemker et al, 2010 Infancy 15 6-27) revealed that texture gradients, unlike linear perspective, neither enhanced nor weakened the effect exerted by relative height. In sum, 7-month-old infants are obviously more sensitive to relative height and to the linear perspective of the surface contours than to the texture gradients of compression, perspective, and density.

The contribution of linear perspective cues and texture gradients in the perceptual rescaling of stimuli inside a Ponzo illusion corridor

“…In line with Fineman and Carlson’s findings, others have reported that the manipulation of texture gradients does not affect perceptual judgments of size [15, 16]. Similarly, studies examining the effects of texture gradients on perceived depth have shown that the visual system is less sensitive to the manipulation of texture gradients compared to the manipulation of linear perspective cues [17–20]. For instance, Zhang [20] found that perceptual judgments of depth did not change as a function of the availability of texture gradients in an immersive driving simulator, suggesting once again that this kind of pictorial depth cue is not relevant for the perceptual rescaling of size.…”

Tamanhos pictóricos percebidos sobre gradientes de textura desenhados e fotografados após exposições breves

“…Do ponto de vista ontogenético, há muitas evidências de que a capacidade de utilizar a perspectiva como indício de profundidade desenvolve-se nos primeiros meses de vida, provavelmente entre 6 e 7 meses de idade (Watson & Enns, 2012). Por exemplo, em uma tarefa de preferential-reaching, observou-se uma grande sensibilidade à perspectiva linear em crianças de 7 meses de idade, porém não nas de 5 meses (Hemker & Kavšek, 2010). Também há estudos que situam o início da utilização deste indício ainda mais cedo.…”