Abstract
THE view of the world from different perspectives provided by the two eyes is used by the human visual system to compute the relative distances and solid shapes of objects1. However, the traditional theory of binocular disparity takes little account of the fact that a moving target will stimulate many different sets of disparate points in the two eyes with a range of temporal delays. Here we show that stereoacuity for periodic gratings is not degraded by velocities of up to 640° s−1 provided that they do not move at a greater rate than 30 cycles −1. The minimum detectable spatial phase difference between the eyes was equivalent to a spatial phase difference of about 5° and an interocular temporal delay as small as 450 μs. We suggest that stereopsis for moving targets is accomplished by neurons having a spatial–temporal phase shift in their receptive fields between the eyes.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Wheatstone, C. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 2, 371–393 (1838).
Barlow, H. B., Blakemore, C. & Pettigrew, J. D. J. Physiol. 193, 327–342 (1967).
DeAngelis, G. C., Ohzawa, I. & Freeman, R. D. Nature 352, 152–159 (1991).
Regan, D. & Beverley, K. I. Vision Res. 13, 2369–2379 (1973).
Westheimer, G. & McKee, S. P. J. opt. Soc. Am. 68, 450–455 (1978).
Morgan, M. J., Watt, R. J. & McKee, S. P. Vision Res. 23, 541–546 (1983).
Andersen, S. J. & Burr, D. C. Vision Res. 25, 1147–1154 (1985).
Burr, D. C. & Ross, J. Vision Res. 18, 523–532 (1978).
Palmer, A. R., Rees, A. & Caird, D. Hearing Res. 50, 71–86 (1990).
Pulfrich, C. Naturwissenschaft 10, 553–564 (1922).
Ross, J. Nature 248, 363–364 (1974).
Morgan, M. J. & Thompson, P. Perception 4, 3–18 (1975).
Schor, C. M., Wood, I. C. & Ogawa, J. Vision Res. 24, 573–578 (1984).
Derrington, A. M. & Lennie, P. J. Physiol. Lond. 357, 219–240 (1984).
Livingstone, M. S. & Hubel, D. H. Science 240, 740–749 (1988).
Morgan, M. J. & Watt, R. J. Vision Res. 22, 863–866 (1982).
Morgan, M. J. & Tyler, C. W. Proc. R. Soc. B (in the press).
Ross, J. & Burr, D. in Vision, Brain & Cooperative Processes (eds Arbib, M. & Hanson, A. R.) (Bradford, Amherst, MA. 1983).
Burr, D. C., Ross, J. & Morrone, M. C. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B227, 249–265 (1986).
Reid, R. C., Soodak, R. E. & Shapley, R. M. J. Neurophysiol. 66, 505–529 (1991).
McLean, J., Raab, S. & Palmer, L. A. Visual Neurosci. 11, 271–294 (1994).
Morgan, M. J. Perception 9, 161–174 (1980).
Watt, R. J. & Andrews, D. P. Curr. Psychol. Rev. 1, 205–214 (1981).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morgan, M., Castet, E. Stereoscopic depth perception at high velocities. Nature 378, 380–383 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/378380a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/378380a0
This article is cited by
-
Interocular contrast difference drives illusory 3D percept
Scientific Reports (2017)
-
Joint-encoding of motion and depth by visual cortical neurons: neural basis of the Pulfrich effect
Nature Neuroscience (2001)
-
Insect motion detectors matched to visual ecology
Nature (1996)
-
A role for stereoscopic depth cues in the rapid visual stabilization of the eyes
Nature (1996)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.