Blur, Accommodation, and Vision

描述（由申请人提供）：我们对视觉世界的主观印象是，一切都是焦点。这种印象被摄影和电影摄影中的常见做法所强化，即创造出无处不在的焦点图像。然而，我们的主观印象是相当不正确的，因为视网膜图像的大部分是明显模糊的。我们将研究模糊的使用和眼睛在感知距离和大小时的聚焦反应。我们还将研究模糊和调节如何影响观众疲劳。 有明确的证据表明模糊会影响距离和大小感知。将开发一个概率模型，将模糊和其他线索的信息。该模型将通过在一系列心理物理实验中将其行为与人类感知进行比较来进行评估和改进。其中一组实验将使用摄影技术中的微缩效果。这些实验将确定模糊和眼睛的聚焦反应（调节）对感知绝对距离的贡献。另一组实验将利用图像中两个区域之间边界模糊中包含的信息。这些实验将确定观察到的模糊、焦距和相对大小的可解释性是否影响深度顺序的感知。 来自双目视差的深度和来自模糊的深度的几何形状基本上是相似的。原则上，这两个线索提供了关于距离的补充信息，视差在注视点附近提供更精确的信息，而模糊在远离注视点的地方提供更精确的信息。视差和模糊对感知距离和眼睛运动控制的相对贡献将针对相对于观看者正在观看的位置的各种位置进行测量。 视网膜图像中的模糊程度取决于环境中物体的绝对和相对距离以及观看者聚焦的位置。我们定义了“自然景深”的概念;这是正常人眼观看自然环境时其他深度线索和模糊之间的适当关系。我们将确定人们是否对自然景深敏感，以及在偏离自然关系的图像中是否会误解3D结构。 立体显示器在医学成像、外科手术训练和科学可视化等应用中的应用越来越广泛。电影和电视业也在迅速引进立体声。对于立体显示器，聚散度和调节之间的正常相关性被破坏。结果是一个聚散-调节的冲突。冲突有几个不利的后果，但最重要的无疑是不适和疲劳。我们将确定观看距离、屈光不正、年龄以及聚散度-调节冲突的大小和符号如何影响不适和疲劳。更好的理解将有助于立体显示器的设计和在这样的显示器上显示的内容。 公共卫生相关性：我们将研究眼睛的模糊和聚焦反应，以及其他深度信息来源如何影响3D布局的感知。拟议的研究是基于严格的心理物理技术，深入分析的几何基础的图像形成的眼睛和深度信息的来源，和定量概率建模。它将产生广泛的影响，因为它与大量的学术和应用学科有关，包括感知心理学，视觉科学，医学成像，计算机图形学，摄影，电影摄影，人体工程学和艺术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our subjective impression of the visual world is that everything is in focus. This impression is reinforced by the common practice in photography and cinematography of creating images that are in focus everywhere. Our subjective impression, however, is quite incorrect because most parts of the retinal image are significantly blurred. We will examine the use of blur and the eye's focusing response in the perception of distance and size. We will also examine how blur and accommodation affect viewer fatigue. There is clear evidence that blur affects distance and size perception. A probabilistic model will be developed that incorporates the information in blur and other cues. The model will be evaluated and refined by comparing its behavior to human perception in a series of psychophysical experiments. One set of experiments will use miniaturization effects developed in photography. Those experiments will determine the contributions of blur and the eye's focusing response (accommodation) on perceived absolute distance. Another set of experiments will capitalize on the information contained in the blur of a border between two regions in an image. Those experiments will determine whether the plausibility of observed blur, focus distance, and relative size affect the perception of depth order. The geometries of depth from binocular disparity and depth from blur are fundamentally similar. In principle, the two cues provide complimentary information about distance, with disparity providing more precise information near the point of fixation and blur providing more precise information away from fixation. The relative contributions of disparity and blur to perceived distance and eye-movement control will be measured for various positions relative to where the viewer is looking. The amount of blur in the retinal image depends on the absolute and relative distance of objects in the environment and on where the viewer is focused. We define the concept of "natural depth of field"; this is the appropriate relationship between other depth cues and blur for a normal human eye viewing the natural environment. We will determine whether people are sensitive to natural depth of field and whether 3D structure is misperceived in images that deviate from the natural relationship. Stereo displays are becoming more widely used in applications such medical imaging, surgical training, and scientific visualization. The motion picture and television industries are also rapidly introducing stereo. With stereo displays, the normal correlation between vergence and accommodation is disrupted. The result is a vergence-accommodation conflict. There are several adverse consequences of the conflict, but the most important is undoubtedly discomfort and fatigue. We will determine how viewing distance, refractive error, age, and the magnitude and sign of the vergence-accommodation conflict affect discomfort and fatigue. A better understanding will aid the design of stereo displays and the content shown on such displays. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We will examine how blur and the focusing response of the eye, coupled with other sources of depth information, affect the perception of 3D layout. The proposed research is based on rigorous psychophysical techniques, thorough analyses of the geometry underlying image formation in the eye and sources of depth information, and quantitative probabilistic modeling. It will have broad impact because it is relevant to a large number of academic and applied disciplines including perceptual psychology, vision science, medical imaging, computer graphics, photography, cinematography, ergonomics, and art.