Ruta Nicole, Ganczarek Joanna, Pietras Karolina, Burleigh Alistair, Pepperell Robert
Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Department of Brain and Cognition, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Department of Psychology, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Krakow, Poland.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2023 Dec;76(12):2837-2853. doi: 10.1177/17470218231164351. Epub 2023 Apr 19.
Despite its mathematical simplicity and ubiquity in imaging technology, there has long been doubt about the ability of linear perspective to best represent human visual space, especially at wide-angle fields of view under natural viewing conditions. We investigated whether changes to image geometry had an impact on participants' performance, specifically in terms of non-metric distance estimates. Our multidisciplinary research team developed a new open-source image database to study distance perception in images by systematically manipulating target distance, field of view, and image projection using non-linear natural perspective projections. The database consists of 12 outdoor scenes of a virtual three-dimensional urban environment in which a target ball is presented at increasing distance, visualised using both linear perspective and natural perspective images, rendered, respectively, with three different fields of view: 100°, 120°, and 140° horizontally. In the first experiment ( = 52), we tested the effects of linear versus natural perspective on non-metric distance judgements. In the second experiment ( = 195), we investigated the influence of contextual and previous familiarity with linear perspective, and individual differences in spatial skills on distance estimations. The results of both experiments showed that distance estimation accuracy improved in natural compared with linear perspective images, particularly at wide-angle fields of view. Moreover, undertaking a training session with only natural perspective images led to more accurate distance judgements overall. We argue that the efficacy of natural perspective may stem from its resemblance to the way objects appear under natural viewing conditions, and that this can provide insights into the phenomenological structure of visual space.
尽管线性透视在数学上很简单且在成像技术中无处不在，但长期以来人们一直怀疑线性透视是否最能代表人类视觉空间，尤其是在自然观看条件下的广角视野中。我们研究了图像几何形状的变化是否会对参与者的表现产生影响，特别是在非度量距离估计方面。我们的多学科研究团队开发了一个新的开源图像数据库，通过使用非线性自然透视投影系统地操纵目标距离、视野和图像投影来研究图像中的距离感知。该数据库由一个虚拟三维城市环境的12个室外场景组成，其中一个目标球以递增的距离呈现，分别使用线性透视和自然透视图像进行可视化，分别以三种不同的视野渲染：水平100°、120°和140°。在第一个实验（n = 52）中，我们测试了线性透视与自然透视对非度量距离判断的影响。在第二个实验（n = 195）中，我们研究了上下文和以前对线性透视的熟悉程度以及空间技能的个体差异对距离估计的影响。两个实验的结果都表明，与线性透视图像相比，自然透视图像中的距离估计准确性有所提高，尤其是在广角视野中。此外，仅使用自然透视图像进行训练会导致总体上更准确的距离判断。我们认为自然透视的有效性可能源于它与物体在自然观看条件下出现的方式相似，并且这可以为视觉空间的现象学结构提供见解。
