ORA (Round 5): The active observer

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Every time we move, the image of the world at the back of the eye changes. Despite this, our perception is of an unchanging world. How does the brain translate a continually changing image into a percept of a stable, stationary, rigid world? Does the brain use a map of the external environment (an "allocentric map") and the position of the observer within it, built up over time, to underpin the perception of stability? Does the brain continually update a map of where scene objects are relative to the observer (an "egocentric map"; e.g. there is an object straight ahead of me, if I walk forward I should expect it to get closer to me)? Does the brain not create a map but just divide up the image motion into that which is likely due to movement of the observer (and which can consequently be ignored) and that which is likely due to objects moving within the scene (which become a focus of attention)? The hypothesis that underpins this research project is that it is not a single one of these mechanisms that underpins perceptual stability, but that all of them, their contribution dependent on the task being performed by the observer. In some cases the task will require a fast estimate to support an ongoing action which might favour one mechanism, on another task, where timing is not so critical, a slower, but more accurate, mechanism might be more appropriate. This collaborative project, which combines complementary expertise in Psychology, Movement Sciences, and Computing from Germany, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and importantly, researchers that start from different theoretical perspectives, will test this hypothesis. We will study a diverse series of tasks that present a range of challenges to the moving observer. We will make use of various innovative experimental paradigms that exploit recent technological advances such as virtual reality combined with simultaneous motion tracking. Understanding where and how different mechanisms of perceptual stability play a role advances not only our scientific understanding, but also has the potential to inform industry as well as medicine about the circumstances in which disorientation or nausea in real or virtual environments can be minimised.