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

我的研究项目试图解释尽可能多的视觉现象，根据参与从眼睛到大脑向上流动的低级机制。我研究编码局部空间结构的机制，如轮廓的方向，纹理边界和对称性，以及光流。编码这些属性的机制的特征是通过对人类受试者进行心理物理实验和构建计算模型来推断的，这些模型构成了所研究机制的理论。在下一个资助期内，我将继续研究参与对称、取向和光流检测的机制。我特别感兴趣的是，当刺激呈现在视网膜的不同部分时，对对称和方向的敏感性是如何变化的。我在光流方面的工作主要集中在一种被广泛讨论的视觉错觉，即平纳错觉。它由两个同心的微图案环组成，当在视网膜上扩张时，它们似乎在相反的方向上旋转。理解这种错觉发生的原因将有助于我们理解在正常情况下运动是如何被处理的。在我的研究计划中的一个新方向是在周边视觉中感知三维形状的能力。未来五年我将进行的研究中有相当一部分将涉及这个问题。这是一个令人兴奋的新方向，因为尽管我们对二维结构的敏感度（例如，对称和方向）在视野中的位置变化有相当多的了解，但我们对周边视觉中三维结构的敏感度如何变化几乎一无所知。所以扩展我们知识的机会是非常大的。

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.