Unresolved issues in stereopsis: dynamic disparity processing

Abstract

Several unresolved issues in stereopsis are discussed that are related to the visual processing of dynamic disparity information. These unresolved issues include: (1) how well does the visual system compute temporal change in disparity and what kind of computation is used; (2) what is the neurophysiological basis of such processing in humans; and (3) how is the information gleaned from such processing used for guiding human action. The resolution of these issues will likely involve an adoption of a philosophical perspective in which dynamic disparity is viewed as playing an important role in the control of behavior and in which stereopsis is studied within the context of control-systems analysis.

Effects of Stereoscopic Depth on Vigilance Performance and Cerebral Hemodynamics

“…Consistent with that suggestion, Parasuraman and his associates (2009) have shown that monitoring performance is resistant to the vigilance decrement when signals for detection include ecologically significant stimuli, such as biological motion, and Szalma and his associates (2014) have found that targets embedded in natural scenes are also resistant to the vigilance decrement. Since the extraction of depth information from stereopsis provides humans with an important everyday means by which to interact with their surroundings (Fox, 1978;Patterson, 2009b), the present experiment was conducted to determine if monitoring for stereoscopic depth changes would also be resistant to the vigilance decrement. This was indeed the case.…”

“…From an operational perspective, the use of 3-D displays has been the subject of considerable interest in the human factors community (Burks et al, 2014;Patterson, 2007Patterson, , 2009aPatterson, , 2009bPatterson & Martin, 1992). A comprehensive review by McIntire and his associates (2014) indicates that although not always the case, 3-D displays improved performance over 2-D displays in a wide variety of tasks requiring the localization, identification, or manipulation of objects.…”

“…Traditionally defined, stereopsis is the perception of depth created by binocular disparity, or a shift in the lateral position of corresponding monocular images formed on the two retinae (Howard & Rogers, 1995;Patterson, 2009a). As described by Fox (1978) and Patterson (2009b), the capacity for stereoscopic depth processing found in humans also occurs in many predators, such as falcons, cats, owls, and nonhuman primates. It provides members of the animal kingdom with an important means by which to interact with their surroundings and survive.…”

Event-related cerebral hemodynamics in 2-D and 3-D Visual Vigilance Tasks

“…Recently, Greenlee and colleagues (2015) investigated the utility of stereoscopic, 3-dimensional (3-D) stimuli within visual vigilance displays. Given the ecological and evolutionary importance of stereopsis for human survival (Fox, 1978;Patterson, 2009) and Hancock's (2013) suggestion that more ecological and naturalistic stimuli may reduce the demands of vigilance tasks, Greenlee and associates predicted that stereoscopic 3-D stimuli would attenuate the vigilance decrement, and they measured global CBFV to determine whether it too would be affected by 3-D stimuli.…”