Search Marsden awards 2008–2017

Recipient(s): Dr GR Schott | PI | University of Waikato
Prof FI Mäyrä | AI | University of Tampere
Dr L Nacke | AI | Blekinge Institute of Technology

Public Summary: If films were classified on the basis of their soundtrack alone its likely that most people would consider this unrepresentative of the full experience subsequently offered to audiences once films are released. Yet, a scenario comparable to this is currently operating when interactive games are being classified. With the same assessment criteria developed for linear mediums (film, television & literature), also being applied to the rating of games, the unique experiential properties of games are left unaccounted for. In doing so, there is also a failure to accurately predict how games are going to be encountered and used (both positively and negatively) once they enter society and culture. Games are a complex and hybrid medium, at once a ‘text’ that can be read, and an activity that demand players participate in the construction of its structure – these qualities demand new theorisation, applied research and progressive legislation. This project will employ a comprehensive and progressive multi-method approach to determine for the first time, the precise and full nature of the impact games exert during play. This will produce a new model of media reception/use that aims to directly inform the practices of New Zealand’s censorship office.

Recipient(s): Assoc Prof J Perrone | PI | University of Waikato
Assoc Prof RJ Krauzlis | PI | Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Dr LS Stone | PI | NASA Ames Research Center

Public Summary: The recent revival in stereoscopic (3-D) movies (e.g., Avatar) has enabled many people to experience the illusion of three-dimensional depth created from pairs of flat two-dimensional (2-D) images. Special glasses transform the flat images on the screen into ‘3-D’ so that the depicted world appears in front of and behind the screen. This raises the question as to why moviegoers and TV viewers are happy to watch regular 2-D movies and TV. If the on-screen scenes simply look like flat shapes with no depth, why do people keep watching 2-D movies? The reason is that stereoscopic cues are not essential; the human brain is able to recover a sense of depth from flat 2-D images by using visual motion information. It has long been known that visual motion can help create an illusion of depth, but the specific brain mechanisms that enable this to happen remain unknown. In this project we will develop and test a new theory of depth-from-motion estimation in humans. As well as answering an age-old question concerning a key brain function we also hope to provide guidance to engineers who are trying to recreate human depth perception in single-camera robot-vision systems.