Wolfram Demonstrations Project

This Demonstration computes the motion/pursuit law in the two-dimensional horizontal fixation plane of the eyes. The observer is looking mainly at F on the vertical axis, but also sees D as he translates to the right at speed equal to the interocular distance per second.

We do not know a theoretical explanation for the rough approximation of the peak motion pursuit law by the 2D relative distance, but this Demonstration compares

, and the 2D signed relative distance,

. It also lets you vary time and compare the motion/pursuit law at other times. You can drag the distractor point and the fixate distance is variable.

Contributed by: Keith Stroyan

See the details in "Motion/Pursuit Law in 1D (Visual Depth Perception 1)" for the basic set-up.

The relative depth formula extends to the two-dimensional distractor as:

When n=0 this is somewhat simpler:

[t]=

This simplifies greatly at the time,

, when the eye crosses the

axis:

The motion/pursuit ratio

is constant on circles passing through the eye node at time zero and distractor

with diameter on the

axis. (These circles are similar to the invariant circles for binocular disparity, but slightly different.)

This means that the time zero motion/pursuit law is NOT an especially good indicator of the relative distance between the two-dimensional distractor and fixate,

, because you can move quite far from F on this circle with no change in the quantity

. If we take the translation of the observer into account, we can show that the peak value of the motion/pursuit law is a good indicator of the relative distance in two dimensions. (It is also likely that the changing value of the motion/pursuit ratio is a cue that the brain could use.)

The figure above on the left shows the peak values of the motion/pursuit law in color and the time zero M/PL in gray. On the right the dark gray graph is the two-dimensional relative depth.

When

the motion

, the motion pursuit ratio

, and

all peak at

and this peak value satisfies

When

and the eye node is at the center of the eye,

, the motion/pursuit ratio and

have critical points at the times

The peak time motion/pursuit formula gives a value close to the relative distance

, when

, and

, when

We do not know a theoretical explanation for the rough approximation of the peak motion/pursuit law by the 2D relative distance, but this Demonstration compares

, and the 2D signed relative distance,

. It also lets you vary time and compare the motion/pursuit law at other times. You can drag the distractor in two dimensions.

The Demonstration "Motion/Pursuit Law on Invariant Circles (Visual Depth Perception 4)" (see Related Links) lets you vary the distractor on the time zero invariant circles.