Depth perception from motion under viewpoint distortion

Abstract

Our optical flow equation showed that distortion from view point could be transformed to an equivalent distortion in focal length. Psychophysical experiments were designed to examine how people perceived depth when this distortion occurred. A random dot plane rotating in depth was displayed to subjects who would then use a probe to indicate the perceived direction of plane. Tilt and slant of perceived plane were analyzed to evaluate the effect of view point distortion to depth perception. Our experiments suggested human perception adapted well with viewpoint distortion. A computational explain for the distortion was discussed.