Terrain influences the accurate judgement of distance

Abstract

Mathematically, three-dimensional space can be represented differently by the cartesian, polar, and other coordinate systems. However, in physical sciences, the choice of representation system is restricted by the need to simplify a machine's computation while enhancing its efficiency¹. Does the brain, for the same reasons, ‘select’ the most cost-efficient way to represent the three-dimensional location of objects? As we frequentlyinteract with objects on the common ground surface, it might be beneficial for the visual system to code an object's location using a ground-surface-based reference frame². More precisely, the brain could use a quasi-two-dimensional coordinate system (x _s, y _s) with respect to the ground surface (s), rather than a strictly three-dimensional coordinate system (x, y, z), thus reducing coding redundancy and simplifying computations^2,3,4,5. Here we provide support for this view by studying human psychophysical performance in perceiving absolute distance and in visually directed action tasks^{6,7,8,9,10,11}. For example, when an object was seen on a continuous, homogeneous texture ground surface, the observer judged the distance to the object accurately. However, when similar surface information was unavailable, for example, when the object was seen across a gap in the ground, or across distinct texture regions, distance judgement was impaired.