Depth in Box Spaces

摘要

Human observers adjust the frontal view of a wireframe box on a computer screen so as to look equally deep and wide, so that in the intended setting the box looks like a cube. Perspective cues are limited to the size-distance effect, since all angles are fixed. Both the size on the screen, and the viewing distance from the observer to the screen were varied. All observers prefer a template view of a cube over a veridical rendering, independent of picture size and viewing distance. If the rendering shows greater or lesser foreshortening than the template, the box appears like a long corridor or a shallow slab, that is, like a 'deformed' cube. Thus observers ignore 'veridicality'. This does not fit an 'inverse optics' model. We discuss a model of 'vision as optical user interface'.