Can any one enlighten me as to current thinking on how we have a sense of depth perception whether by seeing hearing or smelling etc....
Maybe there is a good link available?
Maybe there is a good link available?
Depth perception
- Thread starter Quantum Quack
- Start date
QQ, simply type "depth perception" into a search engine. It would take much
too long for anyone to give you a detailed answer through a reply that an
answer can easily be found using a search engine.
too long for anyone to give you a detailed answer through a reply that an
answer can easily be found using a search engine.
John Connellan
Valued Senior Member
To start with, we cannot perceive depth with smell. Depth perception is mainly visual and if I remember correctly, there are only 2 significant mechanisms by which we do it. (1) Parrallax and (2) stereoscopic/binocular vision.
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Saith
Registered Senior Member
Familiarity also. Parrallax and binocular vision won't help you at all with a photo. When looking at a photo you may see a person, a car, a tree, a sign, etc.. You already have an idea of the dimensions of these objects. Trees can vary in size a lot, but you have a rough idea of there size and by comparing that tree to a sign that might be next to it or a house, you can give yourself an even better idea of how big it is. Houses can very in size a lot too, but its doors don't and windows are about the same. So you can get an idea of the size of the house but just looking at the windows and doors along with other things. Depth perception is almost completely just comparing things with each other. Even if you see an object that you've never seen before you can get an idea of how big and far away it is by looking at the things next to it or things that are on it that are familiar.
John Connellan
Valued Senior Member
Well I was going to leave that one out which I had entitled 'relative size'. For many years, painters have often used relative sizes or 'perspective' to give a 3D appearance in their work. I think in the real world this one isn't used as often as u might think. Its mainly used for far away objects but in an urban environment or the jungle, the other two mechanisms come more into play.
Saith
Registered Senior Member
You could easily test this out right? Just close your eyes and have someone take you into an area that you haven't seen before and then without moving, open them up and stare straight ahead. You should still see everything just fine without looking at things from different directions. If you cover one eye too, you'll notice that nothing concerning depth seems to change.
John Connellan
Valued Senior Member
Saith said:
Actually I did this just now in my office and after about 30 seconds looking through one eye, I began to see things as if they were the same depth. For example, a 500ml bottle of water behind my computer began to look like a 1.5l bottle beside it!!! This happened even though I knew beforehand where the bottle was!!! Imagine what would happen if u WERE brought into a new environment
river-wind
Valued Senior Member
one thing to keep in mind RE: this topic is the method of data delivery of each of the senses.
EYES: light, made of photons, travels very fast, in a mostly straight line. information brought to eyes by the movement of the photons themselves, at a fairly steady near-speed-of-light (in the current medium).
EARS: sound, compression wave of a medium, travels in a cone-shaped refractive pattern. can interfear with itself easily, and can be effected easily by other motions of the medium. Brought to the ears by the compression wave itself, moving at a fairly constant speed of sound in the current medium.
NOSE: smell, individual molecules directing hitting a sensor in the nasal passage. Molecules in medium can move quickly (in a wind), or they can stand near-perfectly still. Brought into the nasal passage most often through active inhalation.
EYES: light, made of photons, travels very fast, in a mostly straight line. information brought to eyes by the movement of the photons themselves, at a fairly steady near-speed-of-light (in the current medium).
EARS: sound, compression wave of a medium, travels in a cone-shaped refractive pattern. can interfear with itself easily, and can be effected easily by other motions of the medium. Brought to the ears by the compression wave itself, moving at a fairly constant speed of sound in the current medium.
NOSE: smell, individual molecules directing hitting a sensor in the nasal passage. Molecules in medium can move quickly (in a wind), or they can stand near-perfectly still. Brought into the nasal passage most often through active inhalation.
John Connellan
Valued Senior Member
No, for smell, the molecules are always moving. Surprisingly quick sometimes even indoors. If there is a concentration gradient it will move outwards to fill the room.
I think the difference between us and say, dogs is that it is very hard for us to differentiate between different smells in a room whereas dogs can break a mixture of smells down into their components somehow (like what we do with different frequencies of sound) and therefore obtain MUCH more information about the environment this way.
I think the difference between us and say, dogs is that it is very hard for us to differentiate between different smells in a room whereas dogs can break a mixture of smells down into their components somehow (like what we do with different frequencies of sound) and therefore obtain MUCH more information about the environment this way.