Upper disparity limit after LASIK

We evaluate the effect of the emmetropization technique LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) on stereoscopic vision. For this, we used a mirror stereoscope to measure the upper disparity limit D(max) before (with best correction) and after LASIK for 30 patients. The results show that the upper disparity limit declines from 41.1 min of arc on average to 31.3 min of arc after LASIK, being significant in 83% of the patients. This deterioration is significantly correlated with an increase in the postsurgical interocular differences in higher-order aberrations, corneal asphericity, and presurgical anisometropia. New ablation algorithms should minimize interocular differences in order to improve binocular visual performance.     

fMRI analysis of excessive binocular disparity on the human brain

The aim of this study is to evaluate brain regions related with excessive binocular disparity that may be linked to stereoscopic visual fatigue. In stereoscopic displays, excessive binocular disparity may generate blurring or double vision in the stereovision and induce unnatural oscillations in accommodation and vergence. These phenomena may lead to visual fatigue and activation (or deactivation) of human brain related with sensory and eye movement functions. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) method is used to investigate the effect of excessive binocular disparity on human brain. Subjective assessments of visual fatigue are also conducted with the same stimuli as the fMRI experiment. Based on the subjective assessment results, participants are classified into low‐ and high‐fatigue groups. From the fMRI experiments, the high‐fatigue group showed more activation at the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) than the low‐fatigue group, when viewing an excessive disparity stimulus. The results showed that the excessive binocular disparity stimulus may induce overload to the IPS region, which is related with stereo processing and saccadic eye movement. In addition, it could be possible to use fMRI as an objective measurement method for understanding the stereoscopic visual fatigue when stimuli with excessive binocular disparity are applied.     

基于小波图像融合的非对称失真立体图像质量评价方法

通过研究非对称失真立体图像人眼视觉感知特性,提出了一种基于小波图像融合的非对称失真立体图像质量客观评价方法.首先,采用固定尺寸块匹配方法得到原始立体图像块视差值,接着,根据该视差值的大小,同时结合非对称失真立体图像视觉感知特性,对匹配块进行小波融合得到原始融合图像和失真融合图像.最后,通过计算原始融合图像和失真融合图像...     

Decoding of depth and motion in ambiguous binocular perception

We have shown previously that random dots with an interocular time delay (ITD), the time difference of the onset of dots between the two eyes, yield both apparent depth and motion, although depth and velocity are covariant and, thus, ITD is inherently ambiguous. The depth of random dots with ITD was proportional to ITD, suggesting that the visual system assumes a constant velocity of the dots and determines depth on the basis of this constant velocity. We performed psychophysical experiments to investigate whether subjects perceive a constant velocity with a variety of ITDs in random dots aligned along a single vertical line that ensures neither apparent motion nor accidental disparity between the dots. The results showed that subjects perceive a constant velocity for a variety of ITDs with simultaneous perception of depth in proportion to ITD, indicating the priority of depth over velocity in ambiguous binocular perception derived from ITD.     

The visual and driving performance of monocular and binocular heavy-duty truck drivers

This study compared the performance of 40 monocular and 40 binocular tractor-trailer drivers on measures of both visual and driving performance. On the visual measures, the mononuclear drivers were significantly deficient in contrast sensitivity, visual acuity under low illumination and glare, and binocular depth perception. They were not significantly deficient in static or dynamic visual acuity, visual field of individual eyes, or glare recovery. Driving measures of visual search, lane keeping, clearance judgment, gap judgment, hazard detection, and information recognition showed no differences between monocular and binocular drivers. Monocular drives were poorer than binocular drivers only in sign reading distance in both daytime and nighttime driving. This decrement correlated significantly with the binocular depth perception measure. There were large individual differences within each group for most of the visual and driving performance measures. It was concluded that monocular drivers have some significant reductions in selected visual capabilities and in certain driving functions dependent on these abilities, compared with binocular drivers. However, monocular drivers are not significantly worse than binocular drivers in the safety of most day-to-day driving functions. Implications of these findings and the large individual differences within each group are discussed.     

Starry night: a texture devoid of depth cues

From a modern Bayesian point of view, the classic Julesz random-dot stereogram is a cue-conflict stimulus: Texture cues specify an unbroken, unslanted surface, in conflict with any variation in depth specified by binocular disparity. We introduce a new visual texture-the starry night texture (SNT)--that is incapable of conveying slant, depth edges, or texture boundaries, in a single view. For SNT, changing density is equivalent to changing intensity, so an instance of the texture is characterized (up to the random locations of the texture elements) by what we call its densintensity. We consider deviations from the ideal that are needed to realize the texture in practice. In three experiments with computer-generated stimuli we examined human perception of SNT to show that (1) the deviations from the ideal that were needed to realize SNT do not affect the invariance of its appearance across changes in distance of several orders of magnitude; (2) as predicted, observers match SNT across changes in distance better than other textures; and (3) the use of SNT in a slant perception experiment did not reliably increase observers' reliance on stereoscopic slant cues, as compared with the sparse random-dot displays that have been commonly employed to study human perception of shape from binocular disparity and motion.     

Integration, segregation, and binocular combination

The human visual system can accurately judge the mean of a distribution of different orientation samples. We ask whether the site of this integration is before or after the sites of binocular combination and disparity processing. Furthermore, we are interested in whether the efficiency with which local orientation information is integrated depends on the eye of origin. Our results suggest that orientation integration occurs after binocular integration but before disparity coding. We show that the effectiveness of added orientation noise is not only less than expected on signal or noise grounds but also that it depends on the dominance of the eye to which it is presented, suggesting an interocular opponent interaction in which the dominant eye input has higher gain.     

Differences in temporal frequency tuning between the two binocular mechanisms for seeing motion in depth

There are two types of binocular cues available for perception of motion in depth. One is the binocular disparity change in time and the other is the velocity difference between the left and the right retinal images (inter-ocular velocity differences). We measured the luminance contrast threshold for seeing motion in depth while isolating either of the cues at various temporal modulations of velocity in the stimulus. To isolate disparity cues, dynamic random-dot stereograms were used (the disparity condition) while binocularly uncorrelated random-dot kinematograms were used to isolate velocity cues (the velocity condition). Results showed that sensitivity peaked at a temporal frequency (approximately 1 cps) in the velocity condition while the peak in the disparity condition was at the lowest frequency (0.35 cps) or at least at a frequency lower than that in the velocity condition. This suggests that the visual system has different temporal frequency properties for the velocity and disparity cues for motion in depth.     

Bayesian modeling of cue interaction: bistability in stereoscopic slant perception

Our two eyes receive different views of a visual scene, and the resulting binocular disparities enable us to reconstruct its three-dimensional layout. However, the visual environment is also rich in monocular depth cues. We examined the resulting percept when observers view a scene in which there are large conflicts between the surface slant signaled by binocular disparities and the slant signaled by monocular perspective. For a range of disparity-perspective cue conflicts, many observers experience bistability: They are able to perceive two distinct slants and to flip between the two percepts in a controlled way. We present a Bayesian model that describes the quantitative aspects of perceived slant on the basis of the likelihoods of both perspective and disparity slant information combined with prior assumptions about the shape and orientation of objects in the scene. Our Bayesian approach can be regarded as an overarching framework that allows researchers to study all cue integration aspects-including perceptual decisions--in a unified manner.     

Adaptive optics binocular visual simulator to study stereopsis in the presence of aberrations

A binocular adaptive optics visual simulator has been devised for the study of stereopsis and of binocular vision in general. The apparatus is capable of manipulating the aberrations of each eye separately while subjects perform visual tests. The correcting device is a liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator permitting the control of aberrations in the two eyes of the observer simultaneously in open loop. The apparatus can be operated as an electro-optical binocular phoropter with two micro-displays projecting different scenes to each eye. Stereo-acuity tests (three-needle test and random-dot stereograms) have been programmed for exploring the performance of the instrument. As an example, stereo-acuity has been measured in two subjects in the presence of defocus and/or trefoil, showing a complex relationship between the eye's optical quality and stereopsis. This instrument might serve for a better understanding of the relationship of binocular vision and stereopsis performance and the eye's aberrations.     

一种基于人眼视觉特性的立体图像质量客观评价方法

通过模拟人眼视觉特性中的对比度敏感函数、多通道效应以及立体感知特性,提出了一种基于人眼视觉特性的立体图像质量客观评价方法.在评价左右图像质量时,利用小波变换模拟人眼视觉特性中的多通道效应,不同空间频带的小波系数按对比度敏感函数进行加权,左右图像质量度量采用Canberra $巨离.在评价立体感知时,则通过计算原始与测试...     

An ideal observer with channels versus feature-independent processing of spatial frequency and orientation in visual search performance

An influential assumption for the front end of models in vision, visual search, and object recognition is an analysis of independent features that correspond to basic image properties, such as motion, shape, and color. Empirically, one common test of independent features (a cue-summation study) measures performance with increasing available cues or features, with improving performance leading to conclusions of summation across independent features. In a study by Shimozaki et al. [J. Vision 2, 354-370 (2002)], both ideal and human observers showed no summation with large stimulus differences, in contrast to independent-feature models and suggesting that stimulus information (as assessed by an ideal observer) might affect cue-summation studies. Extending the previous summation study, observers performed a visual search of four Gabors differing in only orientation, only spatial frequency, or both orientation and spatial frequency, across a range of target-distractor differences. An ideal observer underpredicted human summation for small differences, whereas the independent-orientation and spatial-frequency feature models overpredicted human summation for large differences. An ideal observer with channels jointly tuned to spatial frequency and orientation predicted human performance across both small and large target-distractor differences.     

The local mean decomposition and its application to EEG perception data

This paper describes the local mean decomposition (LMD), a new iterative approach to demodulating amplitude and frequency modulated signals. The new method decomposes such signals into a set of functions, each of which is the product of an envelope signal and a frequency modulated signal from which a time-varying instantaneous frequency can be derived. The LMD method can be used to analyse a wide variety of natural signals such as electrocardiograms, functional magnetic resonance imaging data, and earthquake data. The paper presents the results of applying LMD to a set of scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) visual perception data. The LMD instantaneous frequency and energy structure of the EEG is examined, and compared with results obtained using the spectrogram. The nature of visual perception is investigated by measuring the degree of EEG instantaneous phase concentration that occurs following stimulus onset over multiple trials. The analysis suggests that there is a statistically significant difference between the theta phase concentrations of the perception and no perception EEG data.     

面向裸眼立体显示终端的立体视频编码方法

X3D裸眼可视立体显示器需要同时输入8个视点的信息,用户在一定角度范围内可以看到不同视角的立体画面显示.面向裸眼立体显示终端提出了一种立体视频编码方法,在编码端完成复杂的视差估计,压缩后的视差信息通过网络传输到立体显示终端以降低系统对用户终端的要求.用户终端采用基于视差图绘制的方法快速绘制出6个中间视点,实现裸眼可视立体显示器上的多视角立体画面显示.针对视差图的处理,给出了全局平滑和非边缘区域平滑两种视差图的处理方法.实验结果表明,与不对视差图进行平滑的方法相比,对视差图进行平滑能有效提高编码的整体率失真性能.     

Content- and disparity-adaptive stereoscopic image retargeting

The paper proposes a content- and disparity-adaptive stereoscopic image retargeting. To simultaneously avoid the saliency content and disparity distortion, firstly, we calculate the image saliency region distortion difference, and conclude the factors causing visual distortion. Then, the proposed method via a convex quadratic programming can simultaneously avoid the distortion of the salient region and adjust disparity to a target area, by considering the relationship of the scaling factor of salient region and the disparity scaling factor. The experimental results show that the proposed method is able to successfully adapt the image disparity to the target display screen, while the salient objects remain undistorted in the retargeted stereoscopic image.     

Effect of yoga on visual perception and visual strain

Visual perception implies that additional features of a visual stimulus are extracted and cognized. Yoga practice improved the response to a flickering light stimulus, so that it continues to be perceived as ‘flickering’ (rather than fused) at higher frequencies. This response was observed in both children and adults when the ‘critical flicker fusion frequency’ was measured at the end of the yoga programme compared to before. Following yoga, the degree of optical illusion perceived (using the Müller–Lyer lines) was also reduced. A recent randomized controlled trial on 118 professional computer users, randomized as yoga and wait-list control groups, showed that two months of yoga practice reduced subjective reports of symptoms of dry eye and objective evidence of visual fatigue in these professionals. Hence, yoga practice has potential applications especially in those occupations requiring good visual perceptual sensitivity and minimal visual strain.     

双目光学透视式头盔显示器的实验研究

采用分立元件研制双目光学透视式头盔显示器,对双目透视式头盔显示中的关键问题进行实验研究.用偏振分光棱镜作为组合镜,通过理论分析,发现图像源和外界环境的亮度随偏振片方位角呈余弦变化规律,并通过调整偏振片使头盔显示器的图像与外界环境达到最佳融合状态.调查研究了头盔显示器双目重叠范围的改变对视觉效果的影响,数据结果显示,双目重叠范围为单目视场的33～50%时效果最佳.最后根据视差原理编程制作立体图像对,分别显示于头盔显示器的左右眼,实现立体显示.     

Binocular contrast inhibition in subjects with age-related macular degeneration.

In subjects with normal vision, binocular contrast sensitivity is generally higher than monocular sensitivity, indicating summation of contrast in the two eyes. We have compared monocular and binocular contrast sensitivity and acuity for a group of 13 subjects with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Relative to a normal control group, many of the AMD subjects showed reduced binocular contrast summation, and binocular inhibition was found for eight subjects for a narrow or an extended frequency band. A better monocular than binocular function may have practical implications for reading and orientation in AMD.     

基于实时装配状态感知和直观性交互的虚拟现实辅助维修训练

为了提高虚拟维修训练时零件的定位精度,丰富人机交互功能,反映贴近实际的操作过程,提高操作者的训练质量,基于虚拟现实辅助技术,研究了装配约束感知与建立算法,可实现根据当前的装配状态实时建立正确的装配约束.基于直观性交互建立了"导师&助教"多模式指导方法.在Unity3D环境中开发了虚拟手、虚拟工具的无标记交互操作方式,并...     

Binocular Disparity and Stereopsis with Off-axis Transmission Holograms

Simple experimental conditions in holography are considered involving binocular disparity and fusion of different images with off-axis transmission holograms. Both distorted monochromatic reconstruction and two-wavelength reconstruction observed with suitable colour filters naturally produce the perception of a single virtual object.