Abstract
Binocular cues contribute to the perception of depth, and the sense of realism, in stereoscopic images. The binocular disparities in an image depend on the three-dimensional shapes and locations of objects, the distance from which they are viewed, and the distance between the observer's eyes. We assessed how these factors affect the perception of depth in complex natural scenes. By manipulating the interocular distance used to render stereoscopic images, we varied the depth specified by binocular disparity while all other depth cues were held constant. This allowed us to assess the importance of binocular vision in the perception of depth in naturalistic stimuli. We found that apparent depth increased with increasing simulated interocular distance. This is consistent with the idea that perceived depth in natural images combines information from monocular and binocular cues to estimate depth. We also assessed the apparent quality and realism of depth in the same scenes. It might be predicted that this would be optimal when the simulated interocular distance matched that of the observer, since in this case binocular cues are consistent with the depth specified by monocular cues. However, it might also be predicted that quality would increase with increasing disparity, if this enhances the sensation of stereoscopic depth. Conversely, quality might decrease with increasing disparity, since this creates a conflict between binocular and focus cues. We found that depth quality was greatest when a close-to-natural interocular distance was simulated. However, observers preferred greater simulated interocular distances when the viewing distance was large, and when the depth range in the stimuli was small. These results show that depth quality is highest with images are rendered using a natural interocular distance, but that this is moderated by the distance and depth range in the simulated scene.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2016