FORM AND DEPTH PERCEPTION

Perception
Introduction:
Perception is the organization, identification, and
interpretation of sensory information in order to
represent and understand the presented
information or environment. All perception
involves signals that go through the nervous
system, which in turn result from physical or
chemical stimulation of the sensory
system. Vision involves light striking the retina of the eye; smell is mediated by odor molecules;
and hearing involves pressure waves.

Perception is not only the passive receipt of these signals, but it is also shaped by the
recipient’s learning, memory, expectation, and attention .Sensory input is a process that
transforms this low-level information to higher-level information (e.g., extracts shapes for object
recognition).The process that follows connects a person’s concepts and expectations (or
knowledge), restorative and selective mechanisms (such as attention) that influence perception.

Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems
mostly effortless because this processing happens outside conscious awareness. Since the rise of
experimental psychology in the 19th century, psychology’s understanding of perception has
progressed by combining a variety of techniques. Psychophysics quantitatively describes the
relationships between the physical qualities of the sensory input and perception. Sensory
neuroscience studies the neural mechanisms underlying perception. Perceptual systems can also
be studied computationally, in terms of the information they process. Perceptual issues in
philosophy include the extent to which sensory qualities such as sound, smell or color exist in
objective reality rather than in the mind of the perceiver.
Definition:
The American Psychological Association (APA) defines perception as “ process or
result of becoming aware of objects, relationships, and events by means of the senses, which
includes such activities as recognizing, observing, and discriminating.”

Perception in psychology can be defined as the sensory experience of the world, which
includes how an individual recognizes and interpreter sensory information. This also includes
how one responds to those stimuli. Perception includes these senses: vision, touch, sound, smell,
taste, and proprioception.

Characteristics:

Perception involves many attributes, But the three most recognized features of perception
include contour perception, constancy, Grouping (particularly the Gestalt principles), and
contrast effect.

 Contour perception: In natural vision, an object is often partially occluded by another

object. Yet, we often seem to have a
fairly good idea of what the hidden
part looks like and, in particular, what
the boundary contours look like. This
is called perceptual completion.
 Constancy: In terms of perception,
constancy refers to the capability of
one or more perceptual systems to
identify the same object among a sea
of sensory inputs. For example, a coin
looks circular when held face-on, and
elliptical when it is held showing its side. But, constancy enables us to identify the object
as a coin even if it is held either way. Without constancy, we might perceive one object
as a different sensory input if sensed in a different angle, degree, intensity or frequency.
There are various kinds of constancy. One type is called color constancy major focus in
the field of perception. For instance, a white paper is normally perceived as “white” even
 under varying intensities and colors of light. Others include odor, melody, brightness,
words, and roughness.
 Grouping: Grouping is a feature of perception that follows the principles primarily
proposed by Gestalt psychologists. The principles of grouping were formulated to
analyze the natural human perception of objects as organized and in patterns. The six
Gestalt grouping principles include proximity, similarity, closure, good continuation,
common fate, and good form. Learn more about them here.
 Contrast Effect: A contrast effect refers to the increase or decrease in perception as
related to the normal intensity, degree, frequency or other attributes. The so-called
“normal perception” is based on the previous experience/s of the person. Many years
later, Wilhelm Wundt stated that contrast is a basic principle of perception. For proper
contrasts, the objects being compared must be similar to each other. One research on the
perception of music revealed that subjects would identify a song as “good” or “bad”
depending on how the previously heard music is subjectively “good” or “bad”. The
effects of the contrasts influence visual qualities such as brightness and color, as well as
other precepts like weight and lightness.

Form Perception

Introduction:

Form perception is the

recognition of visual elements of
objects, specifically those to do with
shapes, patterns and previously
identified important characteristics. An
object is perceived by the retina as a
two-dimensional image but the image
can vary for the same object in terms of
the context with which it is viewed, the
apparent size of the object, the angle
from which it is viewed, how
illuminated it is, as well as where it resides in the field of vision. Despite the fact that each
instance of observing an object leads to a unique retinal response pattern, the visual processing in
the brain is capable of recognizing these experiences as analogous, allowing invariant object
recognition. Recognition object recognition visual processing occurs in a hierarchy with the
lowest levels recognizing lines and contours, and slightly higher levels performing tasks such as
completing boundaries and recognizing contour combinations. The highest levels integrate the
perceived information to recognize an entire object. Essentially object recognition is the ability
to assign labels to objects in order to categorize and identify them, thus distinguishing one object
from another. During visual processing information is not created, but rather reformatted in a
way that draws out the most detailed information of the stimulus.

Definition:
Form perception refers to our ability to visually perceive objects in the world in response
to the patterns of light that they caste on our retinas.

Characteristics:
When an observer gazes steadily at a stationary object, form perception is facilitated by
miniature eye movements, such as tremors, drifts, and micro saccades, that cause visually
responsive cells to respond more vigorously to the object whenever the eyes move . Motion of an
observer relative to the object also refreshes cell responses. Even when cells respond vigorously,
form perception represents a major challenge for the brain because our retinas have a large blind
spot and retinal veins that impede light from reaching photo detectors.
Perception is based on the following seven elements:
 Visual discrimination. The ability to distinguish one shape from another.
 Visual memory. The ability to remember a specific form when removed from your visual
field.
 Visual-spatial relationships.
 Visual form constancy.
 Visual sequential memory.
 Visual figure/ground.
Dysfunction in Form Perception:

Dysfunctions in distinguishing differences in sizes and shapes of objects can have many
causes, including brain injury, stroke, epilepsy, and oxygen deprivation. Lesions on the brain that
develop as a result of injury or illness impair object recognition. Regions that specifically lead to
deficits in object recognition when a lesion is present include the right lateral fusiform gyrus and
the ventrolateral occipital-temporal cortex. These areas are crucial to the processing of shape and
contour information, which is the basis for object recognition.

Injury and illness:

Potential injuries to the brain include but are

not limited to stroke, oxygen deprivation, blunt force
trauma, and surgical injuries. When patients have
lesions on their brain that develop as a result of injury
or illness, such as multiple sclerosis or epilepsy, it is
possible that they may have impaired object
recognition which can manifest in the form of many
different agnosias .Similar deficits have also been observed adults that have

 suffered blunt force trauma,

 strokes,
 severe carbon monoxide poisoning as well as in adults that have surgical damage
following removal of tumors.
 Deficits have also been observed in children with types of epilepsy that do not lead to the
formation of lesions.
 It the seizures cause a functional disruption that is capable of interfering with the
processing of objects.
Aging:

Whether or not visual form

learning is retained in older
humans is unknown. Studies prove
that training causes improvement
in form perception in both young
and old adults. Learning to
integrate local elements is
negatively affected by age, however Advancing age hinders the ability to process stimuli
efficiently to identify objects. More specifically, recognizing the most basic visual components
of an object takes a lot longer. Since the time it takes to recognize the object-parts is expanded,
the recognition of the object itself is also delayed. Recognition of partially blocked objects also
slows down as we age In order to recognize an object that is partially obscured we need to make
perceptual inferences based on the contours and borders that we can see. This is something that
most young adults are able to do, but it slows down with age. In general, aging causes a decrease
in the processing capabilities of the central nervous system, which delays the very complex
process of form perception.

Laws of Perceptual Organization:

According to Gestalt psychology, this apparent movement happens because our minds fill in
missing information. Motion pictures are based on this principle, with a series of still images
appearing in rapid succession to form a seamless visual experience. Gestalt psychology focuses
on how our minds organize and interpret visual data. Based upon this belief, Wertheimer along
with Gestalt psychologists Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka, developed a set of rules to explain
how we group smaller objects to form larger ones (perceptual organization).
They called these rules the Gestalt Laws. It’s important to note that while Gestalt psychologists
call these phenomena "laws," a more accurate term would be "principles." These principles are
much like heuristics, which are mental shortcuts for solving problems.
The principles are:

1. Law of Closure
2. Law of Pragnanz
3. Law of Proximity
4. Law of Similarity
5. Law of Continuity
6. Law of Inclusiveness.

Law of Closure:

Gestalt psychologists claimed that when we receive sensations that form an incomplete or
unfinished visual image or sound, we tend to overlook the incompleteness and perceive the
image or sound as a complete or finished unit. This tendency to fill in the gaps is referred to as
closure.
The partial outlines of the figure will be filled out and your friend might say that it is a square,
though it is not, in-fact, one. But even if it is seen as an incomplete square it shows that your
friend first saw a square and later registered its incompleteness. This illustrates that the principle
of closure was in operation. This shows a tendency to perceive meaningful objects.

Law of Pragnanz:

The term Pragnanz indicates fullness or completeness. Gestalt psychologists are of the view that
the process of perception is dynamic and goes on changing until we reach a stage of perceiving
with maximum meaning and completeness. Once we reach this point, the perceived gestalt
remains stable. Such a stable gestalt is called a good gestalt.

The perceptual process according to gestalt psychology tends to move towards a good gestalt.
This phenomenon is very obvious in the case of children. If once they perceive something, they
keep on asking questions about it which may appear silly to an adult. Closure is one basic
mechanism which illustrates the principle of Pragnanz.
The reader should not confuse between perceiving a good gestalt and the accuracy of perception.
The term good gestalt means that at that stage the perceptual process is stable and that under
given conditions a clear figure-ground demarcation has been arrived at Apart from the above
principles, other principles which play a role in the organisation of perception are proximity,
similarity, continuity, etc. They explain how perception takes place in the presence of a large
number of stimuli. Perceptual organisation, under such circumstances, is determined to a great
extent by the laws of association-similarity, continuity, etc. These principles are explained with
the aid of illustrations below.

Law of Proximity:

When objects are close to each other, the tendency is to perceive them together rather than
separately. Even if the individual items do not have any connection with each other they will be

grouped under a single pattern or perceived as a meaningful picture.

For instance, when the English teacher in the class questions a student, ‘What is often?’ This is
completely different from the question, ‘What is of ten. Both the sentences contain the same
sounds but the way the speaker groups the sounds and where he pauses will determine how the
sounds are perceived.

Law of Similarity:

The Law of Similarity is the gestalt grouping law that states that elements that are similar to each
other tend to be perceived as a unified group. Similarity can refer to any number of features,
including color, orientation, size, or indeed motion.
Similar elements tend to be perceived as belonging together. Stimuli that have the same size,
shape and color tend to be perceived as parts of the pattern.

Law of Continuity:

Anything which extends itself into space in the same shape, size and color without a break is
perceived as a whole figure. For example, when several dots form a curved line, an individual
may perceive the figure as two different continuous lines irrespective of the factors like
proximity and similarity of the dots. Thus, the whole figure is organized into a continuum though
the dots are unconnected.

Law of Inclusiveness:

The pattern which includes all the elements present in a given figure will be perceived more
readily than the other figures. For example, the hexagonal figure formed by all the dots may be
perceived more readily than the square formed by the four middle dots. Single dots at either end
act as a fence or enclosure within which all the other elements are included.
We have here examined some of the factors which play a role in the organisation of perception.
These principles explain how perception is often independent of characteristics of individual
stimuli. While discussing the phenomena of sensation it was mentioned that often our perception
bears very little connection to the actual stimulus situation. We now know that this is because of
the fact that perception is a complex and active process influenced by many factors other than
stimulus characteristics.

Depth Perception

Introduction:

Depth perception is the ability to

perceive the world in three dimensions
(3D) and to judge the distance of
objects. Your brain achieves it by
processing different pictures from each
eye and combining them to form a
single 3D image. Depth perception
makes it possible for your eyes to
determine distances between objects
and to tell if something is near to you
or far away. For accurate depth
perception, you generally need to have
binocular (two-eyed) vision. In a process called convergence, our two eyes see an object from
slightly different angles and our brain compares and processes the two sets of information to
form a single image. When both eyes see clearly and the brain processes a single image
effectively, it is called stereopsis.

People who rely on vision primarily in one eye (called monocular vision) may struggle with
depth perception. However, some people who have had good vision in one eye for a long period
of time may find they have acceptable depth perception. This is because their brain has adjusted
in various ways to make up for the limited visual input from one eye.

Definition:
Depth perception is the ability of humans and other sighted animals to see objects as having
volume (as opposed to seeing flat silhouettes) and to see the relative position of objects in a
three-dimensional environment (as opposed to in a two-dimensional picture).

Depth perception arises from a variety of depth cues. These are typically classified
into binocular cues and monocular cues. Binocular cues are based on the receipt of sensory
information in three dimensions from both eyes and monocular cues can be observed with just
one eye.

Monocular and Binoculars Cues

Monocular Cues:

Monocular cues allow for some sense of

depth perception even when you don’t have
two eyes working properly together. With
monocular cues, images are interpreted as
two-dimensional. Think of a painting that
gives the illusion of depth by playing with
the foreground and background. That is your
eye and monocular cues in the real world —
things that are closer are larger and move
faster; things in the background are smaller and move slower. They’re still needed even when
they are, offering cues including:

 Motion parallax: This cue contributes to your sense of self-motion. It occurs when you
move your head back and forth. Objects at different distances move at slightly different
 speeds. Closer objects move in the opposite direction of your head motion and faraway
objects move with your head.
 Interposition: When objects overlap each other, it gives us monocular cues about which
one is closer.
 Aerial perspective: Color and contrast cues offer clues as to how far away an object
might be. As light travels, it scatters and causes blurred outlines, which your brain
interprets as being farther away.
 Linear perspective: It happens when the angles of two adjacent objects and the distance
between them look smaller and smaller. This causes your eye to interpret those objects as
increasingly farther away from you.
 Relative size : This monocular cue gives you the ability to measure how far away
something is. It works by judging how big or small the object is and what that means in
relation to other objects you’ve interacted with in the past. Here an example: When you
see a plane fly by in the sky above you, it looks really small. But you probably know that
up close, a plane is huge.
 For example, imagine you’re drawing a road or train tracks extending into the distance.
You might start drawing each side of the road or tracks at the bottom of your piece of
paper.
 Light and shade : The way that light hits an object creates shades of light and dark. This
tells your eyes where an object sits in relation to the light and to objects nearby. That’s
can also tell you if something is upside down because the light source will hit the object
differently, so that it visually contrasts with other parts of your environment.
 Texture Gradient: The amount of detail we can see easily on an object when it is close
to us; when far we can’t see the detail.
 Natural Effects: Like heat haze, water vapor, dust, sand, and fog, can affect our vision,
especially at longer distances.
 Accommodation: It refers to the amount of work our eye muscles like ciliary muscles
have to do to focus on an object.
Binocular Cues:

The most important aspect of binocular vision is having two eyes. People with vision from only
one eye have to rely on other visual cues
to gauge depth, and their depth
perception is generally less accurate.
Binocular cues are visual information
taken in by two eyes that enable us a
sense of depth perception, or stereopsis.
Retinal disparity, also known as
binocular parallax, refers to the fact that
each of our eyes sees the world from a
slightly different angle.

Not having accurate depth perception can have a major impact on your life, from early childhood
learning to what jobs you’re able to do. That’s because your binocular cues are at work to create
the depth perception needed for countless tasks.

Some of the cues provided through your binocular vision include:

 Changing disparity: These cues are a function of stereopsis, which allows your eyes to
build depth perception on the basis of the distance between them. This sensitivity to the
disparity, and how the brain processes the slight difference, contributes to an accurate 3D
image.
 Velocity differences: Your binocular vision is responsible for processing differences in
speed, or velocity, that contribute to depth perception as you and the world you interact
with are in motion.
 Retinal Disparity: It called binocular parallax, that refers to the fact that each of our eyes
sees the world from a slightly different angle, which is triangulated by the brain to figure
out the correct distance
 Binocular Convergence: It refers to the amount of rotation our eyes have to do in order
to focus on an object. It enables us to determine how near or far things are away from us.
 A proprioceptive sense, it is the amount of inward rotation our eyes have to do in order to
focus on an object.

Causes of Impaired Depth Perception

A lack of depth perception can be caused by numerous conditions. These include:

 Amblyopia: Also called “lazy eye,” this is a condition in which one eye is weaker than
the other. This typically happens because of abnormal vision development in childhood
and features decreased vision in one or both eyes.

 Optic nerve hypoplasia: This occurs when the optic nerve, which sends visual signals
from your eyes to your brain, has incomplete development before birth. It can result in
partial or total vision loss in children

 Strabismus: This occurs when the eyes point in different directions, such as one pointing
straight ahead and the other pointing inward or down. In this case, the strabismus causes
amblyopia.

 Blurry vision: Numerous conditions can cause the vision in one or both eyes to be
blurry, as can trauma to an eye. Blurry vision causes amblyopia.

 Injury to one eye: Trauma can alter your vision, either temporarily or permanently