IUBio

do we perceive accelerations?

Patrick van der Smagt smagt at fwi.uva.nl
Sat May 18 05:43:01 EST 1991


I am trying to model motion in a quite wide perspective, but one
can narrow it down to hand-eye coordination.  When I look at 
biological mechanisms (e.g., myself), I get the impression that
motions are based on the fact that one assumes all moving
objects (including onself) to have a constant velocity.  
Correction for the fact that things have accelerations are
realised by fast sensory data processing.

Another indication for this assumption I find in Lee's article [1980]
in which  he invesigates time-to-contact.  He reports (in another
article, I believe) that subjects correctly estimate the time
left before an approaching object hits them, under the assumption
that the velocity of the object is constant.

What I am looking for are other indications for my assumption.
Do biological systems only `calculate' the first positional 
derivative from their sensory input?


						Patrick van der Smagt


References:
===========
D. N. Lee, The optic flow field: The foundation of vision.
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 290, pp. 169--179, 1980.



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