ABSTRACT
Jiang, Y., Pantle, A. and Mark, L. 1998. Visual inertia of rotating 3D
objects. Perception & Psychophysics, 60, 278-286.
Five experiments were designed to determine whether a rotating, transparent 3D
cloud of dots (simulated sphere) could influence the perceived, direction of rotation of a
subsequent sphere. Experiment 1 established conditions under which the direciton of
rotation of a virtual sphere was perceived unambiguously. When a near-far luminance
difference and perspective depth cues were present, observers consistently saw the sphere
rotate in the intended direction. In Experiment 2 a near-far luminance difference was used
to create an unambiguous rotation sequence that was followed by a directionally
ambiguous rotation sequence which lacked both the near-far luminance cue and
perspective. Observers consistently saw the second sequence as rotating in the same
direction as the first, indicating the presence of 3D visual inertia. Experiment 3 showed
that 3D visual inertia was sufficiently powerful to bias the perceived direction of a rotation
sequence made unambiguous by a near-far luminance cue. Experiment 5 showed that 3D
visual inertia could be obtained using an occlusion depth cue to create an unambiguous
inertia-inducing sequence. Finally, Experiments 2, 4 and 5 all revealed a fast-decay phase
of inertia which lasted for approximately 800 msec, followed by an asymptotic phase
which lasted for periods as long as 1600 msec. The implications of these findings are
examined with respect to motion mechanisms of 3D visual inertia.
Keywords: 3D -- Structure-from-motion -- Apparent motion -- Priming
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