Seeing In Depth

In its two volumes 'Seeing in Depth' provides a detailed review of all aspects of seeing the three-dimensional world, along with 7,000 references and 800 illustrations. This book is a valuable resource for researchers in space perception, visual neuroscience, ophthalmology, optometry, visual development, animal vision, and computational vision.

The three-volume work Perceiving in Depth is a sequel to Binocular Vision and Stereopsis and to Seeing in Depth, both by Ian P. Howard and Brian J. Rogers. This work is much broader in scope than the previous books and includes mechanisms of depth perception by all senses, including aural, electrosensory organs, and the somatosensory system. Volume 1 reviews sensory coding, psychophysical and analytic procedures, and basic visual mechanisms. Volume 2 reviews stereoscopic vision. Volume 3 reviews all mechanisms of depth perception other than stereoscopic vision. The three volumes are extensively illustrated and referenced and provide the most detailed review of all aspects of perceiving the three-dimensional world.Volume 1 starts with a review of the history of visual science from the ancient Greeks to the early 20th century with special attention devoted to the discovery of the principles of perspective and stereoscopic vision. The first chapter also contains an account of early visual display systems, such as panoramas and peepshows, and the development of stereoscopes and stereophotography. A chapter on the psychophysical and analytic procedures used in investigations of depth perception is followed by a chapter on sensory coding and the geometry of visual space. An account of the structure and physiology of the primate visual system proceeds from the eye through the LGN to the visual cortex and higher visual centers. This is followed by a review of the evolution of visual systems and of the development of the mammalian visual system in the embryonic and post-natal periods, with an emphasis on experience-dependent neural plasticity. An account of the development of perceptual functions, especially depth perception, is followed by a review of the effects of early visual deprivation during the critical period of neural plasticity on amblyopia and other defects in depth perception. Volume 1 ends with accounts of the accommodation mechanism of the human eye and vergence eye movements.

Volume 2 addresses stereoscopic vision. It starts with the physiology of stereoscopic mechanisms. It then deals with binocular rivalry, binocular summation, and interocular transfer. A review of how images are brought into binocular register is followed by a review of stimulus tokens used to detect disparities. Cyclopean effects, such as cyclopean illusions, cyclopean motion, texture segregation, and binocular direction are reviewed. Factors that influence stereoacuity are discussed. Two chapters describe how stimuli in distinct depth planes produce contrast effects, and affect motion perception and whiteness perception. The Pulfrich stereomotion effect and perception of motion in depth are reviewed. The volume ends with a review of applications of stereoscopy.

In The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks tells the stories of people who are able to navigate the world and communicate with others despite losing what many of us consider indispensable senses and abilities: the power of speech, the capacity to recognize faces, the sense of three-dimensional space, the ability to read, the sense of sight. For all of these people, the challenge is to adapt to a radically new way of being in the world. There is Lilian, a concert pianist who becomes unable to read music and is eventually unable even to recognize everyday objects, and Sue, a neurobiologist who has never seen in three dimensions, until she suddenly acquires stereoscopic vision in her fifties. There is Pat, who reinvents herself as a loving grandmother and active member of her community, despite the fact that she has aphasia and cannot utter a sentence, and Howard, a prolific novelist who must find a way to continue his life as a writer even after a stroke destroys his ability to read. And there is Dr. Sacks himself, who tells the story of his own eye cancer and the bizarre and disconcerting effects of losing vision to one side. Sacks explores some very strange paradoxes—people who can see perfectly well but cannot recognize their own children, and blind people who become hyper-visual or who navigate by “tongue vision.” He also considers more fundamental questions: How do we see? How do we think? How important is internal imagery—or vision, for that matter? Why is it that, although writing is only five thousand years old, humans have a universal, seemingly innate, potential for reading? The Mind’s Eye is a testament to the complexity of vision and the brain and to the power of creativity and adaptation. And it provides a whole new perspective on the power of language and communication, as we try to imagine what it is to see with another person’s eyes, or another person’s mind.

"Binocular vision" literally means vision with two eyes, and refers to the special attributes of vision with both eyes open, rather than one eye only. Our perception under binocular conditions represents a highly complex co-ordination of motor and sensory processes and is markedly different from and more sophisticated than vision with one eye alone. This book reviews our ability to use both eyes, while also providing basic information on the development of binocular vision and on the clinical disorders that interfere with our depth perception, such as strabismus and amblyopia. This book also describes the development of eye movement control, particularly those that are important for reading. In addition, the authors of this book review the phenomenon of ocular dominance (OD) in the light of the types of test used to identify it; question whether inter-test agreement of OD in an individual might be anticipated, and address some practical implications of OD as demonstrated in healthy eyes and in cases where there is compromised binocular function. Other chapters in this book disclose new methodologies in congenital nystagmus eye movements analysis and evaluate heterophoria as an important element of assessment of binocular vision disorders.

Over the last decade, significant progress has been made in 3D imaging research. As a result, 3D imaging methods and techniques are being employed for various applications, including 3D television, intelligent robotics, medical imaging, and stereovision. Depth Map and 3D Imaging Applications: Algorithms and Technologies present various 3D algorithms developed in the recent years and to investigate the application of 3D methods in various domains. Containing five sections, this book offers perspectives on 3D imaging algorithms, 3D shape recovery, stereoscopic vision and autostereoscopic vision, 3D vision for robotic applications, and 3D imaging applications. This book is an important resource for professionals, scientists, researchers, academics, and software engineers in image/video processing and computer vision.