<p>I'm trying to understand from the signal processing perspective how the perception of depth and the ability of spatial orientation is calculated by our brains. One possible explanation seems to be that the brain receives two visual signals, at each interval one signal at each eye. From the differences in the two visual signals (especially from the variation in resolution), the brain can learn to calculate the depth of the merged image signal. This ability however needs to be learned by the brain first, so I would think at least.</p>
<ul>
<li>I'd like to ask, at what age do we learn depth and orientational sensing?</li>
<li>Does the ability to learn this sensing require two receivers of the visual signal? If someone, who was born with only one functional eye, completely blind on the second eye from birth, would this person still be able to develop this sensing, and if yes, would it take this person more time to do this?</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-11T04:30:14.827Z
Probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabismus is the best line of inquiry to try to understand your question; see also https://psychology.stackexchange.com/search?q=depth+perception or https://biology.stackexchange.com/search?q=binocular (can also flip the terms per site) and the monocular cues section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_perception to highlight some of the other contributions to depth perception. I may write up a formal answer but it'll take some research on my part; you can probably learn a lot just by going through those sources, though.
Bryan Krause
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-11T15:08:15.677Z
So this really seems to be a process that can be learned even by only using one eye with  a lens that artificially devides the eye in two areas in the middle, not curving but a sharp angle, one part having it's own normal vector and the second part as well.
Eugen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-11T15:13:59.060Z
It would be interesting to see some experiments on rats, where a rat gets from birth on one eye closed, to see how it learns depth perception, after some period, when the rat evolved it's sensing with only one eye, the second eye could be enabled to evaluate the overall sensing compared to normal rats.
Eugen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-11T16:15:29.937Z
Probably the most relevant experiments have actually been done in cats rather than rats. Rodents and other prey animals may have depth perception abilities but they are harder to study. They will respond strongly to "looming" cues but otherwise a rat has little reason to judge visual distances.
Bryan Krause
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-11T05:49:38.080Z
There is the famous case of [Stereo Sue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_R._Barry) who learned depth perception at the age of 48.  The article also discusses [previous evidence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_R._Barry#Challenging_earlier_views) from animal studies.
Arnon Weinberg
<vision><developmental-psychology><sensory-perception><signal-processing>
Requirements and development of depth and spatial orientation sensing
Eugen
# Requirements and development of depth and spatial orientation sensing

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-11)

I'm trying to understand from the signal processing perspective how the perception of depth and the ability of spatial orientation is calculated by our brains. One possible explanation seems to be that the brain receives two visual signals, at each interval one signal at each eye. From the differences in the two visual signals (especially from the variation in resolution), the brain can learn to calculate the depth of the merged image signal. This ability however needs to be learned by the brain first, so I would think at least.

* I'd like to ask, at what age do we learn depth and orientational sensing?
* Does the ability to learn this sensing require two receivers of the visual signal? If someone, who was born with only one functional eye, completely blind on the second eye from birth, would this person still be able to develop this sensing, and if yes, would it take this person more time to do this?

**Tags:** vision, developmental-psychology, sensory-perception, signal-processing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabismus is the best line of inquiry to try to understand your question; see also https://psychology.stackexchange.com/search?q=depth+perception or https://biology.stackexchange.com/search?q=binocular (can also flip the terms per site) and the monocular cues section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_perception to highlight some of the other contributions to depth perception. I may write up a formal answer but it'll take some research on my part; you can probably learn a lot just by going through those sources, though.  
> **username_0**: So this really seems to be a process that can be learned even by only using one eye with  a lens that artificially devides the eye in two areas in the middle, not curving but a sharp angle, one part having it's own normal vector and the second part as well.  
> **username_0**: It would be interesting to see some experiments on rats, where a rat gets from birth on one eye closed, to see how it learns depth perception, after some period, when the rat evolved it's sensing with only one eye, the second eye could be enabled to evaluate the overall sensing compared to normal rats.  
> **username_1**: Probably the most relevant experiments have actually been done in cats rather than rats. Rodents and other prey animals may have depth perception abilities but they are harder to study. They will respond strongly to "looming" cues but otherwise a rat has little reason to judge visual distances.  
> **username_2**: There is the famous case of [Stereo Sue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_R._Barry) who learned depth perception at the age of 48.  The article also discusses [previous evidence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_R._Barry#Challenging_earlier_views) from animal studies.  

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## 0 answers

