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

当我们在世界上移动时，我们的两只眼睛会接收到一种复杂的视觉输入模式。局部图像速度随着头部运动（计划的和扰动的）、场景布局和对象运动而变化。这种复杂的相对运动模式通常根据光学阵列（视觉方向的流形）来建模，并且光流描述了光学阵列中特征的位置随时间的变化。虽然复杂，但这种光流可以分解为由一个人的自我运动产生的流与由移动物体产生的流。当前提案的重点是更好地理解感知线索，这些线索是人类在动态环境中用来支持安全旅行的。然后，我将应用这些知识来帮助评估和开发更有效的虚拟现实3D用户界面。基于计算分析，我们将预测的视觉信息和人类使用的参考框架，使感知判断支持运动。然后，我将设计实验性的虚拟现实实验来研究移动观察者所面临的一些重要问题。这些问题包括：（1）观察者如何将刚性环境的运动视差与障碍物、运动目标或干扰物的独立运动分开;（2）没有严格约束于表面的特征（如镜面高光和阴影）的影响;（3）双目周边视野在估计和控制航向、平衡和避障中的作用是什么？这些问题的某些方面已经用简单的刺激来考虑，但将扩展到考虑自然主义的、双目虚拟的和真实的环境。 这项拟议中的研究将通过提供立体视觉在移动、定向和导航中的作用的关键见解来推进基础科学，这是一个尚未得到很好研究的话题。这项建议将扩展我们的工作场景感知和虚拟运动，通过检查的作用，双目视觉发挥在真实的世界的任务，如目标拦截或避障。这些实验将通过最先进的设施，如我们独特的宽视场立体显示器，移动的眼睛跟踪和身体跟踪，所有精心设计的行为和心理物理任务相结合的可用性。这项工作将以最先进的计算研究为基础，反过来，可能会激发计算机视觉的生物动机解决方案。高素质的研究人员将接受加拿大工业界高度追捧的人为因素，人机交互和可视化方面的技能培训。

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.