Binocular Information Improves the Reliability and Consistency of Pictorial Relief

Citation

Hibbard PB, Hornsey RL & Asher JM (2023) Binocular Information Improves the Reliability and Consistency of Pictorial Relief. Vision, 7 (1). https://doi.org/10.3390/vision7010001

Abstract
Binocular disparity is an important cue to three-dimensional shape. We assessed the contribution of this cue to the reliability and consistency of depth in stereoscopic photographs of natural scenes. Observers viewed photographs of cluttered scenes while adjusting a gauge figure to indicate the apparent three-dimensional orientation of the surfaces of objects. The gauge figure was positioned on the surfaces of objects at multiple points in the scene, and settings were made under monocular and binocular, stereoscopic viewing. Settings were used to create a depth relief map, indicating the apparent three-dimensional structure of the scene. We found that binocular cues increased the magnitude of apparent depth, the reliability of settings across repeated measures, and the consistency of perceived depth across participants. These results show that binocular cues make an important contribution to the precise and accurate perception of depth in natural scenes that contain multiple pictorial cues.

Keywords
binocular vision; depth perception; 3D vision; stereopsis; binocular disparity; pictorial relief; natural images; depth-cue combination; virtual reality

Journal
Vision: Volume 7, Issue 1

• Binocular Information Improves the Reliability and Consistency of Pictorial Relief