Myron L. Braunstein

Picture of Myron L. Braunstein
Professor Emeritus, Cognitive Sciences
School of Social Sciences
PH.D., University of Michigan, 1961
Phone: (949) 824-5431
Fax: (949) 824-2307
Email: mlbrauns@uci.edu
University of California, Irvine
3203 SSPB
Mail Code: 5100
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Visual perception
Academic Distinctions
Editor, Perception & Psychophysics (1994-1998)
Research Abstract
The perception of a three-dimensional scene involves the perception of the overall depth within the scene, the perception of the layout of objects in the scene, and the perception of characteristics of objects, such as shape and size. The information used in these perceptions may be viewer-centered, based on distances between the eye and points in the scene, or object-centered, based on relative distances among points in the scene. How all of this information is put together is the main focus of our research. Our most recent studies have been concerned with the role of the ground surface in the integration of three-dimensional scenes. We have examined the influence on perceived layout of where an object appears to contact the ground, relative to where it appears to contact other surfaces. We have studied the interaction of ground contact information with several other sources of information for layout, including motion parallax, occlusion and shadow. We use psychophysical methods in which observers judge the relative distances and shapes of objects in real or simulated scenes. In some studies we insert simulated objects into movies of real scenes. The primary purpose of this research is to better understand human perception of the visual world, but it also has implications for AI vision and human factors applications, such as automated highway systems and flight simulators.
Publications
Braunstein, M. L. (2002). A better understanding of inference can reconcile constructivist and direct theories. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25, 99.
Braunstein, M. L., Sauer, C. W., Feria, C. S., & Andersen, G. J. (2002). Perceived internal depth in rotating and translating objects. Perception, 31, 943-954.
Braunstein, M. L. (2003). Depth perception. In L. Nadel (Ed.) Encyclopedia of cognitive science (pp. 943-947). London: Nature Publishing Group
Feria, C. S., Braunstein, M. L., & Andersen, G. J. (2003). Judging distance across texture discontinuities. Perception, 32, 1423-1440.
Ni, R., Braunstein, M. L., & Andersen, G. J. (2004). Perception of scene layout from optical contact, shadows and motion. Perception, 33, 1305-1318.
Zhong, H., & Braunstein, M. L. (2004). Effect of background motion on the perceived shape of a 3D object shape. Vision Research, 44, 2505-2513.
Bian, Z., Braunstein, M. L., & Andersen, G. J. (2005). The ground dominance effect in the perception of 3-D layout. Perception & Psychophysics, 67, 815-828.
Ni, R., Braunstein, M. L., & Andersen, G. J. (2005). Distance perception from motion parallax and ground contact. Visual Cognition, 12, 1235-1254.
Bian, Z, Braunstein, M. L., & Andersen, G. J. (2006). The ground dominance effect in the perception of relative distance in 3-D scenes is mainly due to characteristics of the ground surface. Perception & Psychophysics, 68, 1297-1309.
Ni, R., Braunstein, M. L., & Andersen, G. J. (2007). Scene layout from ground contact, occlusion, and motion parallax. Visual Cognition, 15, 46-68.
Professional Societies
Psychonomic Society
American Psychological Society
Research Centers
Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Science
Last updated
04/12/2008