Monocular cues are superior to binocular cues for size perception when they are in conflict in virtual reality

Distinct Contributions of Alpha and Beta Oscillations to Context-Dependent Visual Size Perception

Previous studies have proposed two cognitive mechanisms responsible for the Ebbinghaus illusion effect, i.e., contour interaction and size contrast. However, the neural underpinnings of these two mechanisms are largely unexplored. The present study introduced binocular depth to the Ebbinghaus illusion configuration and made the central target appear either in front of or behind the surrounding inducers in order to disturb size contrast instead of contour interaction. The results showed that the illusion effect, though persisted, was significantly reduced under the binocular depth conditions. Notably, the target with a larger perceived size reduced early alpha-band power (8-13 Hz, 0-100 ms after stimulus onset) at centroparietal sites irrespective of the relative depth of the target and the inducers, with the parietal alpha power negatively correlated with the illusion effect. Moreover, the target with a larger perceived size increased the occipito-parietal beta-band power (14-25 Hz, 200-300 ms after stimulus onset) under the no-depth condition, and the beta power was positively correlated with the illusion effect when the depth conditions were subtracted from the no-depth condition. The findings provided neurophysiological evidence in favor of the two cognitive mechanisms of the Ebbinghaus illusion by revealing that early alpha power is associated with low-level contour interaction and late beta power is linked to high-level size contrast, supporting the claim that neural oscillations at distinct frequency bands dynamically support different aspects of visual processing.

Influence of scene aspect ratio and depth cues on verticality perception bias

Perceiving verticality is crucial for accurate spatial orientation. Previous research has revealed that tilted scenes can bias verticality perception. Verticality perception bias can be represented as the sum of multiple periodic functions that play a role in the perception of visual orientation, where the specific factors affecting each periodicity remain uncertain. This study investigated the influence of the width and depth of an indoor scene on each periodic component of the bias. The participants were presented with an indoor scene showing a rectangular checkerboard room (Experiment 1), a rectangular aperture on the wall (Experiment 2), or a rectangular dotted room (Experiment 3), with various aspect ratios. The stimuli were presented with roll orientations ranging from 90° clockwise to 90° counterclockwise. The participants were asked to report their subjective visual vertical (SVV) perceptions. The contributions of 45°, 90°, and 180° periodicities to the SVV error were assessed by the weighted vector sum model. In Experiment 1, the periodic components of the SVV error increased with the aspect ratio. In Experiments 2 and 3, only the 90° component increased with the aspect ratio. These findings suggest that extended transverse surfaces may modulate the periodic components of verticality perception.

Response to geometrical visual illusions in non-human animals: a meta-analysis

Visual illusions have been studied in many non-human species, spanning a wide range of biological and methodological variables. While early reviews have proved useful in providing an overview of the field, they have not been accompanied by quantitative analysis to systematically evaluate the contribution of biological and methodological moderators on the proportion of illusory choice. In the current meta-analytical study, we confirm that geometrical visual illusion perception is a general phenomenon among non-human animals. Additionally, we found that studies testing birds report stronger illusion perception compared to other classes, as do those on animals with lateral-positioned eyes compared to animals with forward-facing eyes. In terms of methodological choices, we found a positive correlation between the number of trials during training or testing and the effect sizes, while studies with larger samples report smaller effect sizes. Despite studies that trained animals with artificial stimuli showing larger effect sizes compared with those using spontaneous testing with naturalistic stimuli, like food, we found more recent studies prefer spontaneous choice over training. We discuss the challenges and bottlenecks in this area of study, which, if addressed, could lead to more successful advances in the future.

Linear perspective cues have a greater effect on the perceptual rescaling of distant stimuli than textures in the virtual environment

The presence of pictorial depth cues in virtual environments is important for minimising distortions driven by unnatural viewing conditions (e.g., vergence-accommodation conflict). Our aim was to determine how different pictorial depth cues affect size constancy in virtual environments under binocular and monocular viewing conditions. We systematically removed linear perspective cues and textures of a hallway in a virtual environment. The experiment was performed using the method of constant stimuli. The task required participants to compare the size of 'far' (10 m) and 'near' (5 m) circles displayed inside a virtual environment with one or both or none of the pictorial depth cues. Participants performed the experiment under binocular and monocular viewing conditions while wearing a virtual reality headset. ANOVA revealed that size constancy was greater for both the far and the near circles in the virtual environment with pictorial depth cues compared to the one without cues. However, the effect of linear perspective cues was stronger than textures, especially for the far circle. We found no difference between the binocular and monocular viewing conditions across the different virtual environments. We conclude that linear perspective cues exert a stronger effect than textures on the perceptual rescaling of far stimuli placed in the virtual environment, and that this effect does not vary between binocular and monocular viewing conditions.