Event Abstract Back to Event Detection of linear ego-acceleration from optic flow Freya Festl1, Fabian Recktenwald2, Chunrong Yuan2 and Hanspeter A. Mallot2* 1 University of Tübingen, Deptartment of Psychology, Germany 2 Universität Tübingen, Department of Biology, Germany Human observers are able to estimate various ego-motion parameters from optic flow, including rotation, translational heading, time to collision (TTC), time to passage (TTP), etc. The perception of linear ego-acceleration or deceleration, i.e. changes of translational velocity, is less well understood. While time-to-passage experiments indicate that ego-acceleration is neglected, subjects are able to keep their (perceived) speed constant under changing conditions, indicating that some sense of ego-acceleration or velocity change must be present. In this paper, we analyze the ego-acceleration perception and its relation to geometrical parameters of the environment using simulated flights through cylindrical and conic (narrowing or widening) corridors. Theoretical analysis shows that a logarithmic ego-acceleration parameter, called the acceleration rate rho, can be calculated from retinal acceleration measurements. This parameter is independent of the geometrical layout of the scene; if veridical ego-motion is known at some instant in time, acceleration rate allows to update ego-motion without further depth-velocity calibration. Results indicate, however, that subjects systematically confuse ego-acceleration with corridor narrowing and ego-deceleration with corridor widening, while veridically judging ego-acceleration in straight corridors. We conclude that judgments of ego-acceleration are based on first order retinal flow, and do not make use of acceleration rate or retinal acceleration. Acknowledgements The paper describes work performed at the Department of Biology, University of Tübingen. Additional support was provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the Tübingen Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (Grant No 01GQ1002A) Keywords: egomotion perception, motion, Optic Flow, structure from motion, time to contact Conference: Bernstein Conference 2012, Munich, Germany, 12 Sep - 14 Sep, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Sensory processing and perception Citation: Festl F, Recktenwald F, Yuan C and Mallot HA (2012). Detection of linear ego-acceleration from optic flow. Front. Comput. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Bernstein Conference 2012. doi: 10.3389/conf.fncom.2012.55.00200 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 11 May 2012; Published Online: 12 Sep 2012. * Correspondence: Prof. Hanspeter A Mallot, Universität Tübingen, Department of Biology, Tübingen, 72076, Germany, hanspeter.mallot@uni-tuebingen.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Freya Festl Fabian Recktenwald Chunrong Yuan Hanspeter A Mallot Google Freya Festl Fabian Recktenwald Chunrong Yuan Hanspeter A Mallot Google Scholar Freya Festl Fabian Recktenwald Chunrong Yuan Hanspeter A Mallot PubMed Freya Festl Fabian Recktenwald Chunrong Yuan Hanspeter A Mallot Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.