Perception of 3D structure and surface properties across the visual field

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My research programme seeks to explain as many visual phenomena as possible in terms of low-level mechanisms participating in the upward flow of information from eye to brain. I study mechanisms that encode local spatial structures such as the orientations of contours, texture boundaries and symmetry, and optical flow. The characteristics of mechanisms that encode these properties are inferred through psychophysical experiments with human subjects and the construction of computational models which constitute theories of the mechanisms under study.         In the next funding period I will continue to study mechanisms that participate in the detection of symmetry, orientation and optical flow. I am particularly interested in how sensitivity to symmetry and orientation change when stimuli are presented to different parts of the retina. My work on optical flow focuses on a widely discussed visual illusion known as the Pinna illusion. It consists to two concentric rings of micropatterns that when made to expand on the retina seem to rotate in opposite directions. Understanding why this illusion occurs will help us understand how motion is processed under normal circumstances.         A new direction in my research programme concerns the ability to perceive 3D shape in peripheral vision. A substantial portion of the research I will conduct in the next five years will deal with this issue. This is an exciting new direction because, although we know quite a bit about how sensitivity to 2D structure (e.g., symmetry and orientation) change as a function of position in the visual field, we know almost nothing about how our sensitivity to 3D structures changes in peripheral vision. So the opportunity to expand our knowledge is very great.