Perception of Layout and Motion during Self Motion in Real and Virtual Worlds

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When moving through the world our two eyes receive a complex pattern of visual input. The local image velocity varies with head motion (planned and perturbations), scene layout and object motion. This complex pattern of relative motion is usually modeled in terms of the optic array (manifold of visual directions) and the optic flow describes changes in the position of features in the optic array with time. While complex, this optic flow can be decomposed into flow arising from one's self-motion versus flow arising from moving objects. The focus of the current proposal is to better understand the perceptual cues that locomoting humans use to support safe travel in dynamic environments. I will then apply this knowledge to help evaluate and develop more effective 3D user interfaces for virtual reality. Based on computational analyses we will make predictions of the visual information and frames of reference used by humans to make perceptual judgements supporting locomotion. I will then design experimental virtual reality experiments to investigate a number of important questions faced by the moving observer. These include (1) how can an observer separate motion parallax of the rigid environment from the independent motion of an obstacle, locomotion target or distractor, (2) what is the influence of features that are not strictly bound to the surface such as specular highlights and shadows and (3) what is the role of the binocular peripheral visual field in the estimation and control of heading, balance and obstacle avoidance? Some aspects of these issues have been considered with simple stimuli but will be extended to consider naturalistic, binocular virtual and real environments. The proposed research will advance basic science by providing key insights into the role of stereoscopic vision in locomoting, orienting and navigating, a topic that has not been well studied. This proposal will extend our work on scene perception and virtual locomotion by examining the role that binocular vision plays during real world tasks such as target interception or obstacle avoidance. These experiments will be enabled by the availability of state-of the art facilities such as our unique wide-field stereoscopic display, mobile eye tracking and body tracking, all combined with carefully designed behavioural and psychophysical tasks. The work will be grounded in state-of-the-art computational research and could, in turn, inspire biologically motivated solutions for computer vision. Highly-qualified researchers will be trained on skills in human factors, human-computer interaction and visualization that are highly sought after by Canadian industry.