The perception and misperception of optical defocus, shading, and shape
The human visual system is tasked with recovering the different physical sources of optical structure that generate our retinal images. Separate research has focused on understanding how the visual system estimates (a) environmental sources of image structure and (b) blur induced by the eye’s limite...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2019-07-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/48214 |
| _version_ | 1811181137543823360 |
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| author | Scott WJ Mooney Phillip J Marlow Barton L Anderson |
| author_facet | Scott WJ Mooney Phillip J Marlow Barton L Anderson |
| author_sort | Scott WJ Mooney |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The human visual system is tasked with recovering the different physical sources of optical structure that generate our retinal images. Separate research has focused on understanding how the visual system estimates (a) environmental sources of image structure and (b) blur induced by the eye’s limited focal range, but little is known about how the visual system distinguishes environmental sources from optical defocus. Here, we present evidence that this is a fundamental perceptual problem and provide insights into how and when the visual system succeeds and fails in solving it. We show that fully focused surface shading can be misperceived as defocused and that optical blur can be misattributed to the material properties and shape of surfaces. We further reveal how these misperceptions depend on the relationship between shading gradients and sharp contours, and conclude that computations of blur are inherently linked to computations of surface shape, material, and illumination. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:13:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-27c9d7b7c6ff47cf9c800474704f945e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:13:36Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-27c9d7b7c6ff47cf9c800474704f945e2022-12-22T04:32:25ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2019-07-01810.7554/eLife.48214The perception and misperception of optical defocus, shading, and shapeScott WJ Mooney0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0094-7638Phillip J Marlow1Barton L Anderson2School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, AustraliaSchool of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, AustraliaSchool of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, AustraliaThe human visual system is tasked with recovering the different physical sources of optical structure that generate our retinal images. Separate research has focused on understanding how the visual system estimates (a) environmental sources of image structure and (b) blur induced by the eye’s limited focal range, but little is known about how the visual system distinguishes environmental sources from optical defocus. Here, we present evidence that this is a fundamental perceptual problem and provide insights into how and when the visual system succeeds and fails in solving it. We show that fully focused surface shading can be misperceived as defocused and that optical blur can be misattributed to the material properties and shape of surfaces. We further reveal how these misperceptions depend on the relationship between shading gradients and sharp contours, and conclude that computations of blur are inherently linked to computations of surface shape, material, and illumination.https://elifesciences.org/articles/48214surface perceptionfocus perceptionshape perception |
| spellingShingle | Scott WJ Mooney Phillip J Marlow Barton L Anderson The perception and misperception of optical defocus, shading, and shape eLife surface perception focus perception shape perception |
| title | The perception and misperception of optical defocus, shading, and shape |
| title_full | The perception and misperception of optical defocus, shading, and shape |
| title_fullStr | The perception and misperception of optical defocus, shading, and shape |
| title_full_unstemmed | The perception and misperception of optical defocus, shading, and shape |
| title_short | The perception and misperception of optical defocus, shading, and shape |
| title_sort | perception and misperception of optical defocus shading and shape |
| topic | surface perception focus perception shape perception |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/48214 |
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