Sensory loss due to object formation.

Area of Science:

• Visual perception
• Psychophysics
• Computational neuroscience

Background:

• Spatial integration typically improves depth localization.
• However, object formation can lead to detrimental effects on depth perception, as seen in the Westheimer-McKee phenomenon.
• These effects impact both precision and accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To replicate and further investigate the detrimental effects of object formation on depth perception accuracy.
• To examine if these effects persist with different organizational principles, including cross-modal cues.
• To propose and validate a probabilistic model explaining the underlying mechanisms.

Main Methods:

• Replication of the Westheimer-McKee phenomenon to assess depth precision and accuracy.
• Testing object formation effects with auditory cues and on lateral motion sensitivity.
• Development of a probabilistic model integrating depth estimates and propagating uncertainty.

Main Results:

• Confirmed loss of precision in depth localization due to object formation.
• Documented an additional loss of accuracy, even with cross-modal auditory cues.
• Demonstrated similar detrimental effects on lateral motion sensitivity.
• The proposed model successfully accounts for the observed effects.

Conclusions:

• Object formation significantly impairs depth perception accuracy and precision.
• Uncertainty propagation from object-level depth estimates to individual features is a key factor.
• This mechanism represents an underestimated consequence of perceptual object formation.