Perceiving Surface Orientation: Pictorial Information Based on Rectangularity Can Be Overriden during Observer Motion

Although the observer's motion can elicit perception of relative depth, it is less successful in doing so when competing pictorial information is available. However, the evidence for this may be affected by limited extents of motion and by equidistance tendencies. Results obtained when monocular observers judged the orientation-in-depth of trapezoidal and of rectangular surfaces, during lateral head motion of extents 0 cm to 30 cm, are described. When the motion extent was less than 30 cm, trapezoidal surfaces were misperceived because they were interpreted as rectangular; this pictorial information was overriden only when the motion extent was 30 cm. The results may reflect the sequential nature of motion information and the redundancy of information in normal viewing: pictorial information may take precedence when motion is limited, but motion information can be indefinitely augmented. Comments are directed to (i) the use of Ames ‘distorted rooms’ in this area of research, and (ii) the ‘ecological’ interpretation of pictorial information.