Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 28, 2026

Measuring Sensitivity to Viewpoint Change with and without Stereoscopic Cues
Published on: December 4, 2013
Seeing two sides at once: effects of viewpoint and object structure on recognizing three-dimensional objects
1Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755-3569, USA. Scott.H.Johnson@Dartmouth.edu
Abstract:
Five experiments demonstrated that adults can identify certain novel views of 3-dimensional model objects on the basis of knowledge of a single perspective. Geometrically irregular contour (wire) and surface (clay) objects and geometrically regular surface (pipe) objects were accurately recognized when rotated 180 degrees about the vertical (y) axis. However, recognition accuracy was poor for all types of objects when rotated around the y-axis by 90 degrees. Likewise, more subtle rotations in depth (i.e., 30 degrees and 60 degrees) induced decreases in recognition of both contour and surface objects. These results suggest that accurate recognition of objects rotated in depth by 180 degrees may be achieved through use of information in objects' 2-dimensional bounding contours, the shapes of which remain invariant over flips in depth. Consistent with this interpretation, a final study showed that even slight rotations away from 180 degrees cause precipitous drops in recognition accuracy.
Related Concept Videos
Support Reactions in Three Dimensions
Ball and Socket Joint is one of the supports allowing free rotation about any axis. This freedom of rotation is...
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Perceptual Constancy
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
Parallel Processing
Cylinders in Three-Dimensional Space

