Relative motion: kinetic information for the order of depth at an edge.

Abstract

A new source of kinetic information for depth at an edge was investigated with adult subjects. The relationship between the motion of optical texture, indicating a surface, and the motion of a contour, indicating an edge, determines whether the surface is perceived as occluding or occluded. Subjects viewed computer-generated random-lot displays in which this relative-motion information provided the only information for depth order and a second type of display in which order in depth was specified both by relative-motion information and by the accretion and deletion of texture. Reliable depth effects were obtained in both conditions. These results indicate that adults are sensitive to the relative motion of texture and contour as information for depth at an edge.