Summary
Results of psychophysical experiments are reported showing that synchrony, appropriate relative placement, and absence of standing disparity are important conditions to be met by members of a target configuration if they are to participate in the cooperative neural processes leading to the best disparity discrimination. Consecutive binocular presentation of the members of a stereo target decreases stereoacuity by a factor of about 10, and a step disparity displacement of a single line target needs to be larger still to be detected as a depth stimulus. A standing disparity of even one minute of arc at least doubles the disparity discrimination threshold. It is postulated that a differencing mechanism operates on the depth signal of individual features; the temporal and spatial optima of target presentation for stereoscopic acuity outline the character of the concerned operations.
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Westheimer, G. Cooperative neural processes involved in stereoscopic acuity. Exp Brain Res 36, 585–597 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238525
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00238525