Abstract

An optical device, similar to that used in a microscope, presented the same view to each eye, as if both eyes were superimposed at the midline of the forehead. Surprisingly, the world seemed to possess the same rich depth sensations seen with normal binocular viewing. The depth obtained with the cyclopean view is enhanced compared with monocular viewing as if the disparity cue is available (although it is not). Flat postcard scenes inspected through the cyclopean device elicit a similar enhanced depth sensation. Normally, each eye receives identical images only for distant scenes, when the fixation directions are parallel. For such distant scenes the flat stereoscopic plane should not force a flat world percept. (Indeed it is very appropriate for strong monocular cues and high-level knowledge to modulate the depth-disparity relationship, even at all fixation distances.) For random fields, however, where the correct 3-D configuration can be recovered only with binocular parallax (such as a tree which has rich but complex occlusion clues), properly scaled stereoscopic disparity should dominate monocular information. Hence, for random textures, the cyclopean view appears flat (unless an element distinguishes itself by motion etc.).

© 1988 Optical Society of America