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Psychological Phenomena

Motion Parallax

Perception and Psychophysics Effects

Motion parallax is a depth cue in which the apparent relative motion of stationary objects against a background, as an observer moves, reveals how far away each object is. When the direction and speed of the observer's own movement are known, motion parallax alone can supply absolute information about distance. It is easiest to notice from a moving car: nearby objects appear to rush past while distant ones seem to move slowly or stay still. Some animals that lack the overlapping binocular vision needed for stereopsis rely on motion parallax more deliberately than humans do; certain birds bob their heads and squirrels shift their bodies from side to side specifically to generate this cue. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Classification
Type of Phenomenon
Perceptual Phenomenon 1
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Depth Perception
  • Lead section (article: Depth perception), monocular cues list
    Monocular cues include relative size (distant objects subtend smaller visual angles than near objects), texture gradient, occlusion, linear perspective, contrast differences, and motion parallax.
  • lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
    Depth perception is the ability to perceive distance to objects in the world using the visual system and visual perception.
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