Chapter 7: Depth perception
Size and distance are two things that are very hard to estimate for the visual system because they are interrelated. How do you know if you’re looking at a small object close to you or a big object far away? Distance is difficult for us to estimate, visually, because the 3D world is projected onto our 2D retina, and the brain has to use every clue it can find to figure out what the correct 3D interpretation of the world is.
- Describe what oculomotor depth cues are.
- Briefly describe what oculomotor muscles and ciliary muscles do and how they contribute information about depth
- List and explain at least 6 monocular depth cues.
- Describe the concepts of bincular disparity and how it contributes to stereoscopic vision disparity
- Explain what the horopter is.
- Explain how the disparity neurons in the primary visual cortex contribute to stereoscopic vision
- Describe binocular rivalry and when it occurs
- Explain what amblyopia is and its underlying causes and how it can affect depth perception
- Describe Emmert’s law and the size-distance scaling equation and their relevance for size perception
- Explain the concept of retinal size and why it is not reliable for perceiving size.
- Give at least 2 examples where size perception strongly relies on depth cues
- Describe the Muller-Lyer illusion
