Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Focusing of Light in the Eye

Focusing of Light in the Eye

Light rays enter the eye through the cornea, a transparent dome-shaped tissue that is the eye's outermost layer. The cornea bends or refracts, light rays traveling to the pupil. The shape of the cornea determines how much of the light is bent and whether the image will be focused correctly on the retina at the back of the eye. Once the light has passed through both refraction layers, it converges into a single focal point onto a small area. This is where photoreceptors start transforming...

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.

Anatomy of the Eyeball

Anatomy of the Eyeball

The eye is a spherical, hollow structure composed of three tissue layers. The outer layer — the fibrous tunic, comprises the sclera — a white structure — and the cornea, which is transparent. The sclera encompasses some of the ocular surface, most of which is not visible. However, the 'white of the eye' is distinctively visible in humans compared to other species. The cornea, a clear covering at the front of the eye, enables light penetration. The eye's middle layer, the vascular tunic,...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

The visual perception of outdoor angular spatial relationships.

Journal of vision·2026

Same author

The visual perception of relative mass from object collisions.

Journal of vision·2026

Same author

The identification of materials from patterns of fluid flow.

Journal of vision·2025

Same author

Visual sensitivity to irregularities in periodic tiling patterns.

Scientific reports·2025

Same author

Appearance and disappearance, an unrecognized form of grouping and form perception from common fate.

Scientific reports·2025

Same author

Visual outdoor space perception.

Scientific reports·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Motion-Acuity Test for Visual Field Acuity Measurement with Motion-Defined Shapes

Motion-Acuity Test for Visual Field Acuity Measurement with Motion-Defined Shapes

Published on: February 23, 2024

Effective 3-D shape discrimination survives retinal blur.

J Farley Norman¹, Amanda M Beers, Jessica S Holmin

¹Department of Psychology, Western Kentucky University, 1906 College Heights Blvd. #21030, Bowling Green, KY 42101-1030, USA. farley.norman@wku.edu

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics

|August 3, 2010

Summary

Accurate 3-D shape discrimination is possible even with significant visual degradation. Object rotation in depth aids shape perception, regardless of blur, indicating robust global shape understanding.

More Related Videos

Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients

Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients

Published on: April 14, 2014

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

Published on: March 18, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Motion-Acuity Test for Visual Field Acuity Measurement with Motion-Defined Shapes

Motion-Acuity Test for Visual Field Acuity Measurement with Motion-Defined Shapes

Published on: February 23, 2024

Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients

Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients

Published on: April 14, 2014

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

Published on: March 18, 2019

Area of Science:

Visual perception
Computational neuroscience
3-D shape analysis

Background:

Visual perception relies on multiple cues like motion, texture, and shading to interpret 3-D object structure.
Retinal blur, a common visual impairment, can significantly impact visual acuity and potentially affect 3-D shape discrimination.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of controlled retinal blur on the ability to discriminate 3-D object shape.
To determine if visual cues like object rotation in depth can preserve 3-D shape perception under degraded visual conditions.

Main Methods:

Experimentally induced visual blur using convex lenses (2.0, 2.5, 3.0 diopters) to reduce visual acuity.
Presented 3-D objects defined by motion, texture, shading, and contours to observers.
Measured observers' ability to discriminate 3-D shape under varying degrees of blur and with object rotation.

Main Results:

Severe reductions in visual acuity (from -0.091 to 0.924 LogMAR) were observed with increasing lens power.
Despite significant visual degradation, 3-D shape discrimination performance showed only small, albeit significant, decrements.
Object rotation in depth consistently facilitated shape discrimination, irrespective of the blur level.

Conclusions:

Accurate global 3-D shape discrimination is remarkably resilient to considerable amounts of retinal blur.
Visual cues, particularly motion-derived cues like rotation in depth, play a crucial role in maintaining 3-D shape perception when visual acuity is compromised.