Distance perception

Abstract

Sedgwick H A, 2001, Alhazen’s “ground theory of distance perception.” Perception 30 ECVP Abstract Supplement.

H A Sedgwick Alhazen, in his Optics, argued, “sight does not perceive the magnitudes of distances of visible objects from itself unless these distances extend along a series of continuous bodies, and unless sight perceives those bodies and their magnitudes” [1989, A I Sabra (Ed. and Transl.) The Optics of Ibn Al-Haytham (London: The Warburg Institute), p. 155]. In support of this argument, he gave examples and demonstrations that contrasted situations in which objects are seen resting on a continuous ground, and the distance between them is correctly seen, with the situation in which the view of the ground is obstructed, and the objects are misperceived as touching, or nearly so. By the time of Descartes’ Optics in 1637, Alhazen’s theory of distance perception based on contiguous bodies (or surfaces, as we might say now) had been replaced by a theory, based on cues such as convergence and accommodation, of distance seen through empty, geometrized space. Alhazen’s explanation of distance perception was independently arrived at by J.Gibson [1950 Perception of the Visual World (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin)] who called it the ground theory of space perception.

Distance perception across spatial discontinuities J.C. MENG. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts and H. A. SEDGWICK State University of New York, State College of Optometry, New York.

Relative distance cues contribute to scaling depth from motion parallax. SATOKO OHTSUKA University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan and HIROYASU UJIKE and SHINYA SAIDA. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan Perception & Psychophysics 2002, 64 (3), 405-414.

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Folder: TSUNAMI Distance perception Alhazen’s ground theory of distance perception. CVP 2001.	Distance perception Abstract Sedgwick H A, 2001, Alhazen’s “ground theory of distance perception.” Perception 30 ECVP Abstract Supplement. H A Sedgwick Alhazen, in his Optics, argued, “sight does not perceive the magnitudes of distances of visible objects from itself unless these distances extend along a series of continuous bodies, and unless sight perceives those bodies and their magnitudes” [1989, A I Sabra (Ed. and Transl.) The Optics of Ibn Al-Haytham (London: The Warburg Institute), p. 155]. In support of this argument, he gave examples and demonstrations that contrasted situations in which objects are seen resting on a continuous ground, and the distance between them is correctly seen, with the situation in which the view of the ground is obstructed, and the objects are misperceived as touching, or nearly so. By the time of Descartes’ Optics in 1637, Alhazen’s theory of distance perception based on contiguous bodies (or surfaces, as we might say now) had been replaced by a theory, based on cues such as convergence and accommodation, of distance seen through empty, geometrized space. Alhazen’s explanation of distance perception was independently arrived at by J.Gibson [1950 Perception of the Visual World (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin)] who called it the ground theory of space perception. Distance perception across spatial discontinuities J.C. MENG. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts and H. A. SEDGWICK State University of New York, State College of Optometry, New York. Relative distance cues contribute to scaling depth from motion parallax. SATOKO OHTSUKA University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan and HIROYASU UJIKE and SHINYA SAIDA. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan Perception & Psychophysics 2002, 64 (3), 405-414.