Research Highlights

We study how the human visual system processes visual information to allow successful interactions with the environment. Our approach is to combine computational methods and behavioral studies to understand what are the visual features that establish the mapping between vision and action. Contrary to the commonly held assumption that perception and action stem from separate visual mechanisms, we take a fundamentally different view, proposing that perception and action form a coordinated system: Perception informs action about the state of the world and, in turn, action shapes perception by signaling when it is faulty. Through this integrated approach, quite distinct from most investigations on perception and motor control, we seek understanding:

The visual encoding of 3D object properties: What are the visual signals that reflect these properties, how are these signals analyzed across disparate viewing conditions, what are the computational mechanisms that model these processes, and how well do these models predict perceptual performance?

The visuomotor mapping: How is the 3D visual encoding transformed into motor actions? What is the role of feedback during an action?

The plasticity of the motor mapping and visual encoding of 3D information: How do motor actions adapt to faulty visual information? Is it sufficient to change the visuomotor mapping? Or does the very perceptual interpretation of the environment need to be reshaped?

News

December 2022
New publication in The Royal Society: The case against probabilistic inference: a new deterministic theory of 3D visual processing

March 2022
Dr. Fulvio Domini | TEDxBrownUSalon : Does Vision Reconstruct Objective Reality? | Fulvio Domini | TEDxBrownUSalon

March 2019
Feature in the Brown Daily Herald: Visual perception lab challenges common theory on visual streams

September 2018
New publication in Psychological Research: Multiple distance cues do not prevent systematic biases in reach to grasp movements

September 2018
New publication in Scientific Reports: The endless visuomotor calibration of reach-to-grasp actions

August 2018
New publication in Neuropsychologia: Transfer of adaptation reveals shared mechanism in grasping and manual estimation

May 26, 2018
Congratulations to former undergraduate RAs Sholei Croom and Julia Bleier on graduating!

February 5, 2018
New publication in Experimental Brain Research: How removing visual information affects grasping movements

September 24, 2017
New publication in Neuropsychologia: Error correction and spatial generalization in human grasp control

September 2017
The 3DIPA Lab welcomes new graduate students Jovan Kemp and Abdul-Rahim Deeb!

August 29, 2017
New publication in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review: Does visuomotor adaptation contribute to illusion-resistant grasping?

August 24, 2017
New publication in Journal of Vision: Stereovision for action reflects our perceptual experience of distance and depth

May 13, 2017
New publication in Vision Research: Adaptation effects in grasping the Müller-Lyer illusion