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Abstract:
In three experiments we investigated whether the perception of 3D structure from the optic-flow involves a process of spatial integration. The observeramp;amp;amp;lsquo;s task was to judge the 3D orientation of local velocity field patches. In two conditions, the patches were presented either in isolation, or as part of a global optic-flow. In Experiment 1, the global optic-flow was a linear velocity field. In Experiment 2, the patches were embedded in a randomly perturbed linear velocity field. In Experiment 3, the local patches belonged to a smoothly curved surface. The results of these three experiments lead to two main conclusions: (1) a process linking spatially separated patches into global entities does affect the perception of local surface orientation induced by the optic-flow, and (2) linearity or smoothness of the global velocity field are not necessary conditions for spatial integration.
