Detecting objects in polarised light
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1
University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, Australia
The detection of polarised light is widespread in the invertebrate world and its use for specific tasks, such as celestial orientation and the detection of water bodies, has been well documented. Some species of cephalopod and crustacean have polarisation receptors distributed across the whole visual field and are thought to use polarised light cues for object detection. These object-based polarisation vision systems tend to rely on an orthogonal, two channel receptor organisation, with the dominant axes aligned (through eye, head and body stabilisation mechanisms) horizontally and vertically relative to the outside world.
The geometric nature of polarised light and its detection allows us to model how different stimuli appear to a simple 2 channel system. We develop Bernard and Wehner’s 1977 model of polarisation receptor dynamics to apply it to the detection and discrimination of polarised objects against polarised backgrounds. We propose a new measure of ‘polarisation distance’ (roughly analogous to ‘colour distance’) for estimating the discriminability of objects in polarised light, and conclude that horizontal/vertical arrays are optimally designed for detecting differences in the degree, and not the e-vector, of polarised light under natural conditions. We go on to suggest various uses for the model, including calculating just noticeable differences (JNDs) for object detection, and generating biologically relevant image polarimetry (stomatopod example below).
References
Bernard G.D., Wehner R. 1977 Functional similarities between polarization vision and color vision. Vision Res 17(9), 1019-1028.
Keywords:
Polarisation,
discrimination thresholds,
object detection,
cuttlefish,
fiddler crabs
Conference:
International Conference on Invertebrate Vision, Fjälkinge, Sweden, 1 Aug - 8 Aug, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Oral presentation preferred
Topic:
Colour and polarisation vision
Citation:
How
MJ and
Marshall
J
(2019). Detecting objects in polarised light.
Front. Physiol.
Conference Abstract:
International Conference on Invertebrate Vision.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fphys.2013.25.00073
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Received:
21 Feb 2013;
Published Online:
09 Dec 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Martin J How, University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, St Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia, m.how@bristol.ac.uk