New form of 3d vision works in the
same way as humans
The scientists could now show the mantises not only simple
movies of bugs, but the complex dot-patterns used to investigate human 3D
vision. This enabled them to compare human and insect 3D vision for the first
time.
The team at Newcastle University, UK has
discovered that mantis 3D vision works differently from all previously known
forms of biological 3D vision.
3D or stereo vision helps us work out the
distances to the things we see. Each of our eyes sees a slightly different view
of the world. Our brains merge these two views to create a single image, while
using the differences between the two views to work out how far away things
are.
But humans are not the only animals that have
stereo vision. Other animals include monkeys, cats, horses, owls and toads, but
the only insect known to have stereo vision is the praying mantis.
A team at the Institute of Neuroscience at
Newcastle University funded by the Leverhulme Trust have been investigating
whether praying mantis 3D vision works in the same way as humans'.
To investigate this they created special
insect 3D glasses which were temporarily glued on with beeswax.
In their insect 3D cinema, they could show the
mantis a movie of tasty prey, apparently hovering right in front of the mantis.
The illusion is so good the mantises try to catch it.
The scientists could now show the mantises not
only simple movies of bugs, but the complex dot-patterns used to investigate
human 3D vision. This enabled them to compare human and insect 3D vision for
the first time.
Humans are incredibly good at seeing 3D in
still images. We do this by matching up the details of the picture seen in each
eye. But mantises only attack moving prey so their 3D doesn't need to work in
still images. The team found mantises don't bother about the details of the
picture but just look for places where the picture is changing.
This makes mantis 3D vision very robust. Even
if the scientists made the two eyes' images completely different, mantises can
still match up the places where things are changing. They did so even when
humans couldn't.
"This is a completely new form of 3D
vision as it is based on change over time instead of static images," said
behavioural ecologist, Dr Vivek Nityananda at Newcastle University. "In
mantises it is probably designed to answer the question 'is there prey at the
right distance for me to catch?'"
As part of the wider research, a Newcastle
University engineering student developed an electronic mantis arm which mimics
the distinct striking action of the insect.
Fellow team-member from the School of
Engineering, Dr Ghaith Tarawneh adds, "Many robots use stereo vision to
help them navigate, but this is usually based on complex human stereo. Since
insect brains are so tiny, their form of stereo vision can't require much
computer processing. This means it could find useful applications in low-power
autonomous robots."
New form of 3d vision works in the
same way as humans
Main source of article:
Materials provided by Newcastle University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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