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UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Previously Published Works Title Recovering stereo vision by squashing virtual bugs in a virtual reality environment. Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6hb7321d Journal Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 371(1697) ISSN 0962-8436 Authors Vedamurthy, Indu Knill, David C Huang, Samuel J et al. Publication Date 2016-06-01 DOI 10.1098/rstb.2015.0264 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Submitted to Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B - Issue Recovering stereo vision by squashing virtual bugs in a virtual reality environment. For ReviewJournal: Philosophical Only Transactions B Manuscript ID RSTB-2015-0264.R2 Article Type: Research Date Submitted by the Author: n/a Complete List of Authors: Vedamurthy, Indu; University of Rochester, Brain & Cognitive Sciences Knill, David; University of Rochester, Brain & Cognitive Sciences Huang, Sam; University of Rochester, Brain & Cognitive Sciences Yung, Amanda; University of Rochester, Brain & Cognitive Sciences Ding, Jian; University of California, Berkeley, Optometry Kwon, Oh-Sang; Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, School of Design & Human Engineering Bavelier, Daphne; University of Geneva, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences; University of Rochester, Brain & Cognitive Sciences Levi, Dennis; University of California, Berkeley, Optometry; Issue Code: Click <a href=http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/site/misc/issue- 3DVIS codes.xhtml target=_new>here</a> to find the code for your issue.: Subject: Neuroscience < BIOLOGY Stereopsis, Strabismus, Amblyopia, Virtual Keywords: Reality, Perceptual learning, stereoblindness http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/issue-ptrsb Page 1 of 29 Submitted to Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B - Issue Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. article template 1 2 3 4 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. doi:10.1098/not yet assigned 5 6 7 8 Recovering stereo vision by squashing virtual bugs in 9 10 a virtual reality environment 11 12 13 14 Indu Vedamurthy 1†, David C. Knill 1, Samuel J. Huang 1, Amanda Yung 1, 15 4 1,3 1, 2 4 16 Jian Ding , Oh-Sang Kwon , Daphne Bavelier & Dennis M. Levi * 17 18 1Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0268, USA 2 For Review Only 19 Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland 3School of Design & Human Engineering, UNIST, South Korea 20 4 21 School of Optometry and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA 22 †Work was performed while at the University of Rochester 23 *Corresponding author 24 25 26 Keywords: Stereopsis; Virtual Reality; Perceptual learning; Strabismus; Amblyopia 27 28 29 Summary 30 31 Stereopsis is the rich impression of three-dimensionality, based on binocular disparity—the 32 33 differences between the two retinal images of the same world. However, a substantial proportion of 34 the population is stereo deficient, and relies mostly on monocular cues to judge the relative depth or 35 distance of objects in the environment. Here we trained adults who were stereo blind or stereo 36 deficient due to strabismus and/or amblyopia in a natural visuo-motor task – a “bug squashing” game 37 - in a virtual reality (VR) environment. The subjects’ task was to squash a virtual dichoptic bug on a 38 slanted surface, by hitting it with a physical cylinder they held in their hand. The perceived surface 39 slant was determined by monocular texture and stereoscopic cues, with these cues being either 40 consistent or in conflict, allowing us to track the relative weighting of monocular versus stereoscopic 41 cues as training in the task progressed. Following training most participants showed greater reliance 42 43 on stereoscopic cues, reduced suppression and improved stereo-acuity. Importantly, the training- 44 induced changes in relative stereo weights were significant predictors of the improvements in 45 stereoacuity. We conclude that some adults deprived of normal binocular vision and insensitive to the 46 disparity information can, with appropriate experience, recover access to more reliable stereoscopic 47 information. 48 49 50 51 1. Introduction 52 53 54 Stereopsis is the impression of three-dimensionality—of objects “popping out in depth”—that 55 most humans get when they view real-world objects with both eyes, based on binocular disparity, the 56 differences between the two retinal images of the same world. However, a substantial proportion of 57 the population is stereoblind or stereo deficient. The exact proportion depends on the specific test for 58 stereopsis and the age of the subjects, but estimates of impaired stereopsis range from ≈ 5 percent [1] 59 60 *Author for correspondence ([email protected]). 1 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/issue-ptrsb Submitted to Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B - Issue Page 2 of 29 1 2 3 4 to as high as 34% in older subjects [2]. This impairment may have a substantial impact on 5 visuomotor tasks, difficulties in playing sports in children and locomoting safely in older adults, and 6 may also limit career options (see ref. 3 for a recent review). 7 Over the past five years there has been a renewed interest in restoring stereopsis in adults with 8 strabismus, since the publication of “Fixing My Gaze”[4] in which Susan Barry, a neuroscientist, 9 recounts her recovery from strabismus (a turned eye) and her amazement as she regains stereo-vision, 10 and the description by Bruce Bridgeman, a vision scientist who had been stereo deficient all his life, 11 of experiencing stereoscopic depth perception after viewing the 3D movie Hugo [5]. However, there 12 are a limited number of experimental studies documenting recovery of stereopsis in adults who have 13 14 long been deprived of normal binocular vision. Nakatsuka et al. [6] reported that adult monkeys 15 reared with prisms had mild stereo deficiencies that improved through perceptual learning (PL) after 16 10,000 - 20,000 trials. Astle, Webb & McGraw [7] reported on two cases of humans with 17 anisometropic amblyopia whose stereopsis improved following a learning-based course of training, 18 which included refractiveFor adaptation Review followed by monocular Only PL as well as stereoscopic PL. Ding & 19 Levi [8] provided the first evidence for the recovery of stereopsis through PL in human adults long 20 deprived of normal binocular vision due to strabismus and/or amblyopia. They used a training 21 paradigm that combined monocular cues that were perfectly correlated with the stereoscopic cues. 22 23 Following PL (thousands of trials) with stereoscopic gratings, adults who were initially stereoblind or 24 stereo-deficient showed substantial recovery of stereopsis. Importantly, these subjects reported that 25 depth “popped out” in real life, and they were able to enjoy 3-D movies for the first time, similar to 26 the experiences of Susan Barry and Bruce Bridgeman. Their recovered stereopsis is based on 27 perceiving depth by detecting binocular disparity, but has reduced resolution and precision. Similar 28 improvements were recently reported in a group of anisometropic and ametropic amblyopes who 29 were trained with anaglyphic textures with different disparities [9]. 30 How does training improve stereopsis? There are multiple cues to depth – both binocular (retinal 31 disparity; convergence) and monocular (motion parallax, relative size, familiar size, cast shadows, 32 33 occlusion, accommodation, texture gradient, linear perspective, aerial perspective, shading, lighting, 34 and defocus blur). Stereo blind or deficient observers rely mainly on monocular cues. Ding & Levi 35 [8] speculated that stereoblind or stereo deficient observers could learn to associate monocular and 36 binocular cues to depth if they were highly correlated through repeated practice. In the current study 37 we trained adult observers who were stereo deficient due to strabismus and/or amblyopia (lazy eye) 38 in a natural visuo-motor task – a “bug squashing” game - in a virtual reality (VR) environment. The 39 subjects’ task was to squash a virtual dichoptic bug on a slanted surface, by hitting it with a cylinder. 40 The slant of the surface was determined by (i) purely stereoscopic cues (pure stereo-cue trials), or (ii) 41 consistent monocular texture and stereoscopic cues (cue-consistent trials), or (iii) conflicting 42 43 monocular texture and stereoscopic cues (cue-conflict trials). Importantly, our bug squashing training 44 involves integrating not just multiple visual cues, but also the rich information from tactile and 45 kinesthetic feedback. We hypothesized that training with multiple cues to depth with rich feedback 46 might enable stereoblind or stereo deficient observers to increase their reliance on stereoscopic cues. 47 Following training these observers showed increased reliance on stereoscopic cues (relative to 48 monocular cues), reduced interocular suppression and significantly improved stereoacuity. 49 Our results have important implications for the recovery of visual function late in life, well 50 outside the childhood period, until recently thought to offer the only real scope for plasticity. More 51 broadly, they demonstrate the use of virtual reality as a promising approach for perceptual training of 52 53 all kinds. 54 55 56 2. Methods 57 58 (a) Participants 59 60 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/issue-ptrsb 2 Page 3 of 29 Submitted to Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B - Issue 1 2 3 4 Eleven adults (mean age 34.7 years,