Learning a surfaces’ shape from binocular disparity and perceiving it from shading

Tadamasa Sawada; Hirohiko Kaneko

doi:10.47691/joi.v6.13041

Tadamasa Sawada Zaven & Sonia Akian College of Science and Engineering, American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia; School of Psychology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia; and Department of Psychology, Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University, Yerevan, Armenia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7167-1464
Hirohiko Kaneko Department of Information and Communications Engineering, Institute of Science Tokyo, Yokohama, Japan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47691/joi.v6.13041

Keywords: Eureka effect, depth perception, perceptual learning, shape from shading

Abstract

Some special images are known to produce a learning effect in 3D perception. This image represents a 3D scene but it has been degraded so that the 3D information of the scene can be perceived from the image only after the learning has taken place. This study presents a new type of image that is not degraded but can produce a learning effect in 3D perception. This image has a luminance gradient of shading that represents a saddle (hyperbolic) shape that is perceived on the basis of the gradient only after the saddle shape has been learnt on the basis of binocular disparity. This learning effect suggests that the 3D information can be transferred across depth cues in the visual system.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Adams, W.J., Graf, E.W., & Ernst, M.O. (2004). Experience can change the ‘light-from-above’ prior. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 1057–1058. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1312

Cesanek, E., & Domini, F. (2019). Depth cue reweighting requires altered correlations with haptic feedback. Journal of Vision, 19(14), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.1167/19.14.3

Coren, S., & Porac, C. (1987). Individual differences in visual-geometric illusions: Predictions from measures of spatial cognitive abilities. Perception & Psychophysics, 41(3), 211–219. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03208220

Dale, G., Cochrane, A., & Green, C.S. (2021). Individual difference predictors of learning and generalization in perceptual learning. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 83(5), 2241–2255. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-021-02268-3

Dosher, B.A., & Lu, Z. (1998). Perceptual learning reflects external noise filtering and internal noise reduction through channel reweighting. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 95(23), 13988–13993. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.95.23.13988

Erens, R.G.F., Kappers, A.M.L., & Koenderink, J.J. (1993). Perception of local shape from shading. Perception & Psychophysics, 54(2), 145–156. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03211750

Ernst, M.O., Banks, M.S., & Bülthoff, H.H. (2000). Touch can change visual slant perception. Nature Neuroscience, 3(1), 69–73. https://doi.org/10.1038/71140

Firestone, C., & Scholl, B.J. (2016). Cognition does not affect perception: Evaluating the evidence for ‘top-down’ effects. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39, 1–72. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x15000965

Frisby, J.P., & Clatworthy, J.L. (1975). Learning to see complex random-dot stereograms. Perception, 4(2), 173–178. https://doi.org/10.1068/p040173

Giovannelli, F., Silingardi, D., Borgheresi, A., Feurra, M., Amati, G., Pizzorusso, T., & Cincotta, M. (2010). Involvement of the parietal cortex in perceptual learning (Eureka effect): An interference approach using rTMS. Neuropsychologia, 48, 1807–1812. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.02.031

Gregory, R. (1970). The intelligent eye. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Grzeczkowski, L., Clarke, A.M., Francis, G., Mast, F.W., & Herzog, M.H. (2017). About individual differences in vision. Vision Research, 141, 282–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2016.10.006

Johnston, A., Hill, H., & Carman, N. (1992). Recognising faces: Effects of lighting direction, inversion, and brightness reversal. Perception, 21(3), 365–375. https://doi.org/10.1068/p210365

Kobayashi, Y., & Shapiro, A.G. (2025). Relationships among lightness illusions uncovered by analyses of individual differences. Journal of Vision, 25(12), Article 14, 1–20, https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.25.12.14

Lambert, J.H. (2001). Photometria (D.L. DiLaura, Trans.). New York, NY: Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. (Original work published 1760).

Li, R.W., Li, B.Z., Chat, S.W., Patel, S.S., Chung, S.T., & Levi, D.M. (2024). Playing three-dimensional video games boosts stereo vision. Current Biology, 34(11), R524–R525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.032

Makowski, D., Te, A.S., Kirk, S., Liang, N.Z., & Chen, S.A. (2023). A novel visual illusion paradigm provides evidence for a general factor of illusion sensitivity and personality correlates. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 6594. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33148-5

Maltz, M.V., Stubbs, K.M., Quinlan, D.J., Rzepka, A.M., Martin, J.R., & Culham, J.C. (2021). Familiar size affects the perceived size and distance of real objects even with binocular vision. Journal of Vision, 21(10), Article 21. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.21.10.21

Mischenko, E., Negishi, I., Gorbunova, E.S., & Sawada, T. (2020). Examining the role of familiarity in the perception of depth. Vision, 4, Article 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/vision4020021

Mollon, J.D., Bosten, J.M., Peterzell, D.H., & Webster, M.A. (2017). Individual differences in visual science: What can be learned and what is good experimental practice? Vision Research, 141, 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2017.11.001

Mooney, C.M. (1957). Age in the development of closure ability in children. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 11, 219–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0083717

Moore, C., & Cavanagh, P. (1998). Recovery of 3D volume from 2-tone images of novel objects. Cognition, 67, 45–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(98)00014-6

Nefs, H.T., Koenderink, J.J., & Kappers, A.M.L. (2005). The influence of illumination direction on the pictorial reliefs of Lambertian surfaces. Perception, 34, 275–287. https://doi.org/10.1068/p5179

O’toole, A.J., & Kersten, D.J. (1992). Learning to see random-dot stereograms. Perception, 21, 227–243. https://doi.org/10.1068/p210227

Ramachandran, V.S. (1976). Learning-like phenomena in stereopsis. Nature, 262(5567), 392–394. https://doi.org/10.1038/262382a0

Ramachandran, V.S. (1988). Perception of shape from shading. Nature, 331(6152), 163–166. https://doi.org/10.1038/331163a0

Street, R.F. (1931). A gestalt completion test: A study of a cross section of intellect. New York, NY: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Sun, J., & Perona, P. (1998). Where is the sun? Nature Neuroscience, 1(3), 183–184. https://doi.org/10.1038/630

Tulver, K. (2019). The factorial structure of individual differences in visual perception. Consciousness and Cognition, 73, Article 102762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2019.102762

Wiggs, C.L., & Martin, A. (1998). Properties and mechanisms of perceptual priming. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 8(2), 227–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0959-4388(98)80144-x

Yang, J., Yan, F., Chen, L., Xi, J., Fan, S., Zhang, P., Lu, Z., & Huang, C. (2020). General learning ability in perceptual learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(32), 19092–19100. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2002903117