Research article summary (published 30 Dec 2000):

The absence of depth constancy in contour stereograms.

Full Abstract

Stereoscopic surfaces constructed from Kanizsa-type illusory contours or explicit luminance contours were tested for three-dimensional (3-D) shape constancy. The curvature of the contours and the apparent viewing distance between the surface and the observer were manipulated. Observers judged which of two surfaces appeared more curved. Experiment 1 allowed eye movements and revealed a bias in 3-D shape judgment with changes in apparent viewing distance, such that surfaces presented far from the observer appeared less curved than surfaces presented close to the observer. The lack of depth constancy was approximately the same for illusory-contour surfaces and for explicit-contour surfaces. Experiment 2 showed that depth constancy for explicit-contour surfaces improved slightly when fixation was required and eye movements were restricted. These experiments suggest that curvature in depth is misperceived, and that illusory-contour surfaces are particularly sensitive to this distortion.

Author information

Author/s: Vreven, D (D); Welch, L (L);

Affiliation: Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA. dawn(-atsign-)ski.org

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Perception (Perception), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2001-; vol 30 (issue 6) : pp 693-705

Dates: Created 2001/07/23; Completed 2001/08/09; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 11464558, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 2/18/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MeSH Headings (categories) shown below.

Adult Analysis of Variance Depth Perception - physiology Eye Movements - physiology Fixation, Ocular - physiology

Form Perception - physiology Humans Optical Illusions Psychometrics Vision Disparity - physiology

Note: Bold headings indicate primary MeSH headings or qualifiers.

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