Abstract
In this report we describe the results of an experiment in which we demonstrated that a powerful and compelling stereoscopic experience is elicited with very brief (< 1 msec) stimulus durations. The observers were highly successful in recognizing briefly flashed, stereoscopic, random-dot surfaces in the absence of monocular contours. The results are shown to be closely related to the range of depths for any stimulus form; however, the recognition thresholds were nonmonotonic as a function of disparity. Previous investigators have disagreed about the existence of a temporal threshold for stereopsis. We believe that prior findings suggesting that stereopsis cannot occur at short exposure durations are probably due to inadequate control of fixation disparity. Therefore, there is poor dichoptic image registration when a stereoscopic stimulus is presented. The present results also raise difficulties for any theory of stereopsis that requires eye movements.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Foley, J. M., &Richards, W. (1974). Improvement in stereoanomaly with practice.American Journal of Physiological Optics,51, 935–938.
Groner, R., Groner, M. T., Muller, P., Bischof, W. F., &Di Lollo, V. (1993). On the confounding effects of phosphor persistence in oscilloscopic displays.Vision Research,33, 913–918.
Jones, R. (1977). Anomalies of disparity detection in the human visual system.Journal of Physiology,264, 621–640.
Julesz, B. (1960). Binocular depth perception of computer generated patterns.Bell System Technical Journal,39, 1125–1162.
Julesz, B. (1964). Binocular depth perception with familiarity cues.Science,145, 356–362.
Lehmkuhle, S., &Fox, R. (1980). Effect of depth separation on metacontrast masking.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,6, 605–621.
Newhouse, M., &Uttal, W. R. (1982). Distribution of stereoanomalies in the general population.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,20, 48–50.
Patterson, R., &Fox, R. (1984a). The effect of testing method on stereoanomaly.Vision Research,24, 403–408.
Patterson, R., &Fox, R. (1984b). Stereopsis during continuous head motion.Vision Research,24, 2001–2003.
Richards, W. (1970). Stereopsis and stereoblindness.Experimental Brain Research,10, 380–388.
Richards, W. (1971). Anomalous stereoscopic depth perception.Journal of the Optical Society of America,61, 410–414.
Richards, W. (1977). Stereopsis with and without monocular controls.Vision Research,17, 967–969.
Staller, J. D., Lappin, J. S., &Fox, R. (1980). Stimulus uncertainty does not impair stereopsis.Perception & Psychophysics,27, 361–367.
Steinman, R. M., &Collewijn, H. (1980). Binocular retinal image motion during active head rotation.Vision Research,20, 415–429.
Steinman, R. M., Levinson, J. Z., Collewijn, H., &van der Steen, J. (1983). Vision in the presence of known retinal image motion.Journal of the Optical Society of America,73, 1856.
Uttal, W. R. (1985).The detection of nonplanar surfaces in 3-D space. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Uttal, W. R. (1987).The perception of dotted forms. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Uttal, W. R., Baruch, T., & Allen, L. (1994).Dichoptic and physical information combination: A comparison. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Uttal, W. R., Davis, N. S., Welke, C., &Kakarala, R. (1988). The reconstruction of static visual forms from sparse dotted samples.Perception & Psychophysics,43, 223–240.
Uttal, W. R., Fitzgerald, J., &Eskin, T. E. (1975). Parameters of tachistoscopic stereopsis.Vision Research,15, 705–712.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This project was supported by the Office of Naval Research under Work Request N0001485WR24281 and by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research by Grant F49620-92-J-0176P00002.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Uttal, W.R., Davis, N.S. & Welke, C. Stereoscopic perception with brief exposures. Perception & Psychophysics 56, 599–604 (1994). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206955
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206955