Abstract

The visual field is generally defined as the set of directions from which light is visible to a single eye, while the term binocular visual field has been used to refer either to a composite of the two visual fields, to the set of points on the fixation surface visible to either eye in binocular viewing, or to the portions of the visual fields that the two eyes share. These 2-D representations are geometrically inadequate for representing visual space in the most typical viewing conditions, yet they are used widely in vision science and related disciplines for precisely that purpose. Two alternative graphic constructs that are useful in representing the field of view are described: the 3-D volume visual field and the retinocentric binocular field. Both can be computed from the two monocular visual fields, given minimal assumptions, and are useful tools for developing hypotheses about many aspects of visual and visuomotor behavior.

© 1988 Optical Society of America