Seeing Depth but Choosing Cues in Vision-Language Models
Do vision-language models use depth information to judge which object is closer, or rely on image-plane cues? We investigate this question through controlled depth--cue conflicts, representation analysis, and interventions. Among the many image-plane cues relevant to depth perception, we focus on apparent size and vertical position. We compare depth judgments under cue-consistent and cue-conflict conditions in both rendered scenes and real-world photographs. Across model families and scales, depth judgments systematically shift toward misleading cues. Yet the correct depth order remains decodable from the queried objects' visual representations, including when the model answers incorrectl...
| Authors | Zhengtao Zou, Pekka Marttinen |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.AI |
| Published | 13 October 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 13 October 2026 |
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