Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Stereoscopic depth perception at high velocities

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

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wheatstone, C. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. 2, 371–393 (1838).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Barlow, H. B., Blakemore, C. & Pettigrew, J. D. J. Physiol. 193, 327–342 (1967).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. DeAngelis, G. C., Ohzawa, I. & Freeman, R. D. Nature 352, 152–159 (1991).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Regan, D. & Beverley, K. I. Vision Res. 13, 2369–2379 (1973).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Westheimer, G. & McKee, S. P. J. opt. Soc. Am. 68, 450–455 (1978).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Morgan, M. J., Watt, R. J. & McKee, S. P. Vision Res. 23, 541–546 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Andersen, S. J. & Burr, D. C. Vision Res. 25, 1147–1154 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Burr, D. C. & Ross, J. Vision Res. 18, 523–532 (1978).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Palmer, A. R., Rees, A. & Caird, D. Hearing Res. 50, 71–86 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Pulfrich, C. Naturwissenschaft 10, 553–564 (1922).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Ross, J. Nature 248, 363–364 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Morgan, M. J. & Thompson, P. Perception 4, 3–18 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Schor, C. M., Wood, I. C. & Ogawa, J. Vision Res. 24, 573–578 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Derrington, A. M. & Lennie, P. J. Physiol. Lond. 357, 219–240 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Livingstone, M. S. & Hubel, D. H. Science 240, 740–749 (1988).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Morgan, M. J. & Watt, R. J. Vision Res. 22, 863–866 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Morgan, M. J. & Tyler, C. W. Proc. R. Soc. B (in the press).

  18. Ross, J. & Burr, D. in Vision, Brain & Cooperative Processes (eds Arbib, M. & Hanson, A. R.) (Bradford, Amherst, MA. 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Burr, D. C., Ross, J. & Morrone, M. C. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B227, 249–265 (1986).

    ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Reid, R. C., Soodak, R. E. & Shapley, R. M. J. Neurophysiol. 66, 505–529 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. McLean, J., Raab, S. & Palmer, L. A. Visual Neurosci. 11, 271–294 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Morgan, M. J. Perception 9, 161–174 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Watt, R. J. & Andrews, D. P. Curr. Psychol. Rev. 1, 205–214 (1981).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints 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

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/378380a0

This article is cited by

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.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing