Abstract
Previous studies suggest that interocular unmatched features in stationary displays generated the perception of illusory contours under real-world constraints. In addition, interocular unmatched information formed in time could help to reveal depth order. The present study investigated whether the visual system could, basing on temporal interocular unmatched information, segregate the homogeneous occluding surface from the background, which in turn generated illusory contours. A Crystal Eyes Workstation was used to produce the stereo images on a Dell P1110 CRT monitor, 140Hz in refresh rate and 1024*768 in resolution. In the experimental displays, 3 white dots, each extending 9.1 min arc and being 1.67 degrees away from each other vertically, translated horizontally at the same speed of 2.2 degrees/sec for both monocular images within a range of 8 degrees. The only difference between the stimuli images in two eyes was that the dots disappeared first in one eye and then disappeared after a brief period of 70ms in the other eye. The subjects were asked to judge the orientation of the perceived illusory contours. The lifetime of the dots was manipulated in such a way that the apparent orientation of the illusory contours could be 15, 0, or −15 degrees. The orientation of the three aligned dots in each monocular image was 15, 0, or -15 degrees as well. The results showed that visual system could process the interocular unmatched information not only in space but also in time to generate the perception of illusory contours.
This work was supported by NIH AG13419-06, and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(2005CB522800 2004CB318101)