Abstract

Although it is well known that stereo perception is seriously impaired at equiluminance,¹ the role of color in stereopsis and its interaction with other visual attributes cannot be studied adequately with equiluminant stimuli alone. The interaction of color and luminance signals in the perception of depth is of particular importance. We have developed a technique, based on multiattribute random-dot stereograms,² which allows us to study such interactions in global stereopsis (see Ref. 3 for a study on the role of color in local stereopsis). Basically, the technique enables one to render a color-defined cyclopean object simultaneously with, but independently of, a luminance-defined object. Thus, among the options, color (C) can define an object while the luminance (L) is randomized (C × L, C across L), or they can both define the same object (C + L), or C defines one object while L defines another object at a different disparity (C ⟷ L, C against L).

© 1991 Optical Society of America