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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Intravital Video Microscopy Measurements of Retinal Blood Flow in Mice

Intravital Video Microscopy Measurements of Retinal Blood Flow in Mice

Published on: December 26, 2013

Heading and path information from retinal flow in naturalistic environments

J E Cutting¹, P M Vishton, M Flückiger

¹Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-7601, USA. jec7@cornell.edu

Perception & Psychophysics

|April 1, 1997

Summary

This study on visual navigation found that while heading information is generally good, absolute heading perception becomes biased when looking away from the target. This impacts how observers perceive their path, even on a linear trajectory.

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Area of Science:

Visual perception
Navigation science
Human locomotion

Background:

Understanding visual cues for navigation is crucial for explaining human locomotion.
Previous theories on heading and path information require systematic monitoring of eye position.
Simulated locomotion provides a controlled environment to study visual information processing.

Purpose of the Study:

To systematically monitor eye position during simulated locomotion.
To investigate the impact of display masking on heading and path perception.
To evaluate the availability and accuracy of nominal versus absolute heading information.

Main Methods:

Four experiments simulating locomotion in a cluttered environment with off-axis fixation.
Monitoring of eye position to ensure accurate gaze fixation.
Display masking to assess the contribution of visible visual field.
Analysis of nominal and absolute heading information availability and accuracy.

Main Results:

Optimal performance was achieved when observers fixated the central object.
Perceptual performance scaled with the amount of visible display, adjusted for retinal sensitivity.
Nominal heading information was robust, but absolute heading information degraded and became biased with increasing eccentricity from the fixation point.
Some participants perceived curved paths even during linear simulated locomotion.

Conclusions:

Accurate eye position monitoring is essential for validating theories of visual navigation.
Visual information for heading and path perception is significantly influenced by gaze direction.
The degradation of absolute heading information may contribute to path perception errors in real-world navigation.