Mj. Young et al., A PERTURBATION ANALYSIS OF DEPTH-PERCEPTION FROM COMBINATIONS OF TEXTURE AND MOTION CUES, Vision research, 33(18), 1993, pp. 2685-2696
We examined how depth information from two different cue types (object
motion and texture gradient) is integrated into a single estimate in
human vision. Two critical assumptions of a recent model of depth cue
combination (termed modified weak fusion) were tested. The first assum
ption is that the overall depth estimate is a weighted linear combinat
ion of the estimates derived from the individual cues, after initial p
rocessing needed to bring them to a common format. The second assumpti
on is that the weight assigned to a cue reflects the apparent reliabil
ity of that cue in a particular scene. By this account, the depth comb
ination rule is linear and dynamic, changing in a predictable fashion
in response to the particular scene and viewing conditions. A novel pr
ocedure was used to measure the weights assigned to the texture and mo
tion cues across experimental conditions. This procedure uses a type o
f perturbation analysis. The results are consistent with the weighted
linear combination rule. In addition, when either cue is corrupted by
added noise, the weighted linear combination rule shifts in favor of t
he uncontaminated cue.