Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2006. / Description based on contents viewed Jan. 24, 2007; title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-129).

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Visual attention has long been described in terms of the spotlight metaphor, which assumes that two-dimensional regions of the visual field are selectively processed. However, evidence suggests that attention can be distributed to depth in addition to two-dimensional space (Andersen and Kramer, 1993; Gawryszewski, Riggio, Rizzolatti, and Umiltà, 1987). Research supporting this idea has induced depth through binocular disparity. Thus, the results of previous research may be specific to stereoscopic stimuli and not apply generally to the perception of depth. Three experiments were conducted in order to determine if visual attention could be distributed to a non-stereoscopic apparent depth. In these experiments, the perceptual experience of depth was induced in a visual scene using only pictorial depth cues. Subjects were required to attend either a near or far depth in this scene. Experiments 1 and 2 employed electrophysiological recordings and found a reliable modulation in the amplitude of the attention sensitive visual component, P1, when subjects directed attention to far depths. Behavioral measurements in Experiment 3 supported this result, finding speeded reaction time to attended far depth stimuli. No P1 modulation or reaction time facilitation was found when the pictorial depth cues of the visual scene were attenuated. These results suggest that visual attention may be distributed to pictorial depth and are further consistent with a viewer-centered asymmetry in attending to depth.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed Mar. 30, 2010). Additional advisors: Franklin R. Amthor, James E. Cox, Timothy J. Gawne, Rosalyn E. Weller. Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-114).

Depth perception has become a heavily researched area as companies and researchers are striving towards the development of self-driving cars. Self-driving cars rely on perceiving the surrounding area, which heavily depends on technology capable of providing the system with depth perception capabilities. In this paper, we explore developing a single camera (monocular) depth prediction model that is trained on panoramic depth images. Our model makes novel use of transfer learning efficient encoder models, pre-training on a larger dataset of flat depth images, and optimizing the model for use with a Jetson Nano. Additionally, we present a training and optimization framework to make developing and testing new monocular depth perception models easier and faster. While the model failed to achieve a high frame rate, the framework and models developed are a promising starting place for future work.

It has long been held that luminance acts as a cue for depth perception. But varying the luminance of a stimulus inevitably alters its contrast with its background. Recent research shows that contrast is a depth cue. I have distinguished two kinds of contrast, external contrast, the contrast of a stimulus with its background, and internal contrast, the contrast within the stimulus. I compared the relative apparent depth of two stimuli (both directly and indirectly; stimuli were either sine-wave filled hemifields, sine-wave filled squares, or plain squares), as their luminances and internal contrasts were varied along with the luminance of their background. I found internal and external contrast to be additive effects, whereby the stimulus with either a higher internal or external contrast appeared nearer. When the internal and external contrasts of the stimuli were equated, luminance acted as an ambiguous cue, with the lighter square appearing nearer for the majority of observers, and farther for a minority. Luminance may act as a depth cues from our experience with artificial lighting (artificial light varies ambiguously with depth). Contrast may act as a depth cue from its usual association with the reduction of contrast of objects with distance through the atmosphere. I conclude that luminance and contrast are independent depth-cues that are caused by two different mechanisms.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-249).

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