Frisby Davis distance stereoacuity values in visually normal children.

AIMS: To establish the range of normal distance stereoacuity in young children using the Frisby Davis distance stereo test (FD2). METHODS: Children passing preschool vision screening assessments underwent measurement of distance stereoacuity with the FD2 using a standard testing protocol. RESULTS: 59 visually normal children aged between 36 months and 68 months were recruited to this study. All 59 were able to understand the test requirements and were examined with the FD2 stereo test. Four (6.8%) had no measurable stereoacuity; 13 (24%) had stereoacuity measurable only at a 3 metre testing distance (mean 92.3 seconds of arc; SD 52.6). These children were significantly younger than the remaining 42 (76%) who demonstrated a stereoacuity response at a 6 metre testing distance (mean 29.6 seconds of arc; SD 13.1, p=0.008). CONCLUSION: The FD2 stereo test enables the measurement of distance stereoacuity in young children. There appears to be a maturational effect with distance stereoacuity improving between 36 months and 68 months. The data on age related normal values will provide a baseline from which to compare outcomes in clinical populations.

Interaction of stereo, texture and outline cues in the shape perception of three-dimensional ridges.

We report five psychophysical experiments that employed a cue conflict paradigm to investigate integration by the human visual system of surface shape information from stereo, texture and outline cues. The experiments used convex parabolic and triangular three-dimensional ridge stimuli, with amplitudes (base to peak) in the range 3-9 cm, viewed from 57 cm. The observers' task was to judge ridge amplitude using a scale of two-dimensional drawings of ridge profiles. Cue integration was studied using both vertically and horizontally oriented ridges and both real ridges and stereograms of ridges. The main findings were: (a) stereo strongly dominated all horizontal ridge stereograms; (b) texture and outline cues strongly dominated low (3-6 cm) but not high (9 cm) amplitude vertical ridge stereograms; (c) stereo strongly dominated all real ridge stimuli. These results are evidence against explanations of the vertical/horizontal stereo anisotropy which propose that it derives from stereo mechanisms being tuned only to disparity cues with non-zero second-order spatial derivatives or to disparity discontinuities. They also show that radically different results can be obtained when stereo mechanisms are explored using stereograms and real surfaces and possible reasons for this are discussed.

The role of 3-D surface slope in a lightness/brightness effect.

Adelson has shown how two patches in a 5 by 5 array of grey patches can be perceived to consist of different shades, depending on whether they are represented at a 3-D horizontal or vertical ridge. Adelson interprets the illusion in terms of the orientation of the patches with respect to the inferred illuminant. We investigated: (1) the illusion in the vertical and horizontal stimuli and added a flat (ridgeless) control stimulus; (2) stimuli of varying ridge amplitudes to examine the effect more fully. 3-D renderings of real surfaces were modelled with computer graphics and displayed to observers who used a mouse to alter the brightness of a square to match patches indicated in the stimuli. Five observers were used for the vertical, flat and horizontal stimuli, while a larger group (n = 20) was used for an independent design when varying ridge amplitudes. A significant effect in the flat surface demonstrates that patches lying in the same plane can have their brightness altered without changes in their orientation. When the surface was seen as a 3-D ridge the size of the effect was a function of 3-D slope of the surface. By measuring each patch independently we have shown that the effect changes the brightness of the two patches to differing degrees. We offer an explanation of this based on a proposed qualitative shading rule for identifying reflectance and illumination edges.

Does the human visual system implement an ideal observer theory of slant from texture?

Texture information about surface shape can be decomposed into three constituents: compression, density and scaling. Blake, Bülthoff and Sheinberg's (1993, Vision Research, 33, 1723-1737) Ideal Observer theory of slant from texture predicts that the relative contribution of compression and density to the percept of planar surface slant should vary with field of view (FOV). The contribution of compression and density should both increase as FOV increases but statistical analysis shows that the reliability, and hence the expected contribution, of density increases at a greater rate than compression with increasing FOV. Specific predictions are that at FOV < 20 deg compression should be more effective than density, at FOV approximately 20 deg, compression and density should be equally effective, and at FOV > 20 deg, compression should be less effective than density. These predictions were tested by pitting these components of texture against one another. The method used was similar to that described in Frisby and Buckley [1992 In Orban, G. & Nagel H.-H. (Eds) Artificial and biological visual systems. Berlin: Springer]: observers judged binocularly the slant of a large table on to which was projected a texture created using computer graphics to contain various texture component cues to slant. The size of the projected texture patch determined the FOV which was by this means set to either 10, 20 or 30 deg. It was found that compression was the dominant cue irrespective of FOV, even if it was perturbed by noise. Possible reasons for this divergence of human observers from predictions of the Ideal Observer theory of slant from texture are discussed.

Instability of torsion during smooth asymmetric vergence.

Several categories of torsional eye movements obey Listing's law; however, systematic deviations from this law occur during vergence. Two kinematic models attempt to incorporate these deviations, both of which are supported by experimental evidence; however, they lead to different torsion predictions. These discrepancies have been explained in terms of experimental procedures, but it now seems likely from several recent studies that individual differences in torsion patterns may also be important. This study therefore examines the variation of torsion during a smooth asymmetric vergence task in which a fixation target was moved along the line-of-sight of the right eye at 15 degrees elevation; each of five subjects observed five trials of both inward and outward target motion, repeated in two sessions several weeks apart. There were no significant group differences in left or right eye torsion between trials or sessions, suggesting that monocular torsion patterns were relatively stable over time. When examined more closely, however, the torsion patterns shown by some individuals did vary for inward versus outward target motion. Hence, monocular torsion was idiosyncratic and depended on the direction in which fixation was changing (convergence or divergence). In a binocular analysis, cycloversion varied dramatically between subjects and depended on the direction of target motion; however, this was not the case for cyclovergence. In summary, cyclovergence is relatively stable and depends on where the eyes are looking, whereas cycloversion (and hence monocular torsion) is relatively unstable and depends on how they came to be in that particular horizontal and vertical orientation. These findings help to explain the controversy surrounding the torsional behaviour of the human eye during vergence.

The variation of torsion with vergence and elevation.

Two recently developed kinematic models of human eye movements predict systematic departures from Listing's law which are associated with changes in vergence. This vergence-dependent torsion t is proportional to elevation e and vergence v, that is t = kev/2. The proposed value for k is either 1 (Van Rijn, L. J., & Van den Berg, A. V. (1993). Vision Research, 33, 691-708) or 1/2 (Minken, A. W. H., Gielen, C. C. A. M., & Van Gisbergen, J. A. M. (1995). Vision Research, 35, 93-102). One implication of both models is that an eye with a constant fixation direction should exhibit systematic torsional variation during movements of the other eye. This paper therefore examines the torsion produced by moving a fixation target inwards and outwards along the line-of-sight of the right eye at five different viewing elevations (0, +/- 15 and +/- 30 degrees). In a monocular analysis, each eye generally showed intorsion during convergence at positive elevation angles, whereas extorsion occurred at negative elevations; the opposite was true during divergence. However, the torsion response was visibly different between the five subjects, and depended on the direction of target motion. In a binocular analysis, cycloversion (mean of left and right eye torsion) varied dramatically both between subjects and between convergence and divergence; however, cyclovergence (torsional difference) was much less variable. Least-squares methods were used to estimate the constant k from monocular torsion, yielding values between 0.2 and 1.0; however, corresponding estimates based on cyclovergence were all close to 1/2. These findings support suggestions that a binocular control system couples the three-dimensional movements of the eyes, and that an existing model of monocular torsion should be generalised to the binocular case.

Exploring sequential stereopsis for co-planarity tasks.

We used the sequential stereopsis paradigm and apparatus described by Enright (Vision Research, 36, (1996) 307-312). The observer's task was to set targets to equidistance in Experiments 1-3, and to make them co-planar in Experiment 4. However, it is argued that in all experiments observers exploited a co-planarity setting strategy. Sequential stereopsis produced good performance throughout in terms of low disparity thresholds when head position was varied by rotations around three axes: vertical (azimuth condition); horizontal (elevation); and midline (tilt). It also produced good performance when the targets were shifted in position so that they both lay on one side of the median plane of the head. These results cannot be accounted for by Enright's isovergence hypothesis unless it is extended to incorporate other information about eye positions. Performance was better but not greatly so in control simultaneous stereopsis conditions, nor did it deteriorate much when the observer's view was restricted solely to the targets by removing visibility of the room in which the apparatus was located. Target settings were typically located on a concave arc centred on the median plane. This effect was quantitatively modelled using disparity correction for a relief task of co-planarity (Gârding, Porrill, Mayhew, & Frisby. Vision Research, 35 (1995) 703-722). This modelling indicated over-estimations of c.10-20 cm in fixation distance for target distances in the range 71.5-112.5 cm.

Sequential stereopsis using high-pass spatial frequency filtered textures.

Enright [(1995). Perception, 24 (suppl.), 32-33; (1996). Vision Research, 36, 307-312] described a simple piece of equipment for demonstrating a perceptual mechanism he called sequential stereopsis. The equipment requires an observer to set two textured targets seen behind a pair of small viewing ports to appear equi-distant. The principle upon which the apparatus depends is the use of textures whose elements cannot be resolved in peripheral vision at the eccentricity determined by the target separation. Enright used a fine sandpaper for this purpose. We have conducted two similar experiments using high bandpass filtered textures which eliminate any possibility that the low spatial frequency content of sandpaper textures could play a role. Our results corroborate Enright's general conclusions on sequential stereopsis, while at the same time showing that high-pass textures do not give wholly similar results to sandpaper.

Stereopsis, vertical disparity and relief transformations.

The pattern of retinal binocular disparities acquired by a fixating visual system depends on both the depth structure of the scene and the viewing geometry. This paper treats the problem of interpreting the disparity pattern in terms of scene structure without relying on estimates of fixation position from eye movement control and proprioception mechanisms. We propose a sequential decomposition of this interpretation process into disparity correction, which is used to compute three-dimensional structure up to a relief transformation, and disparity normalization, which is used to resolve the relief ambiguity to obtain metric structure. We point out that the disparity normalization stage can often be omitted, since relief transformations preserve important properties such as depth ordering and coplanarity. Based on this framework we analyse three previously proposed computational models of disparity processing; the Mayhew and Longuet-Higgins model, the deformation model and the polar angle disparity model. We show how these models are related, and argue that none of them can account satisfactorily for available psychophysical data. We therefore propose an alternative model, regional disparity correction. Using this model we derive predictions for a number of experiments based on vertical disparity manipulations, and compare them to available experimental data. The paper is concluded with a summary and a discussion of the possible architectures and mechanisms underling stereopsis in the human visual system.

Use of random-dot sterograms in the clinical assessment of strabismic patients.

Random-dot stereograms were shown to a sample of strabismic patients for whom there was clinical evidence of stereopsis. Two kinds of sterograms were used, one of the usual sort and the other having a contour surrounding the disparate area in each field of view. The patients tested could be clearly classified as belonging to one of three response groups. The first group could fuse both kinds of stereogram, the second could fuse only he contoured kind, and the third could not fuse either kind. This grouping was found to relate to the degree to which bifoveal binocular single vision had been absent in the clinical histories of these patients. The result is discussed in terms of the consequences for vergence and stereopsis of period of absence of normal binocular function.

Interaction of stereo and texture cues in the perception of three-dimensional steps.

A computational method for calibrating stereo using shape-from-texture is described together with five experiments that tested whether the human visual system implements the method. The experiments all tested the prediction that the perceived size of a step between two planar and slanted real surfaces should be affected by texture slant cues projected on to them that are inconsistent with the disparity cues. The predicted effect was observed but the results could be accounted for by a new phenomenon revealed in control conditions: the perceived size of a step between two slanted planes is in part determined by the size of the slants even when texture and stereo cues are held consistent. We conclude that the hypothesis that human stereo is calibrated by texture is not confirmed.

An orientation anisotropy in the effects of scaling vertical disparities.

Gårding et al. (Vis Res 1995;35:703-722) proposed a two-stage theory of stereopsis. The first uses horizontal disparities for relief computations after they have been subjected to a process called disparity correction that utilises vertical disparities. The second stage, termed disparity normalisation, is concerned with computing metric representations from the output of stage one. It uses vertical disparities to a much lesser extent, if at all, for small field stimuli. We report two psychophysical experiments that tested whether human vision implements this two-stage theory. They tested the prediction that scaling vertical disparities to simulate different viewing distances to the fixation point should affect the perceived amplitudes of vertically but not horizontally oriented ridges. The first used elliptical half-cylinders and the 'apparently circular cylinder' judgement task of Johnston (Vis Res 1991;31:1351-1360). The second experiment used parabolic ridges and the amplitude judgement task of Buckley and Frisby (Vis Res 1993;33:919-934). Both studies broadly confirmed the anisotropy prediction by finding that large scalings of vertical disparities simulating near distances had a strong effect on the perceived amplitudes of the vertically oriented stimuli but little effect on the horizontal ones. When distances > 25 cm were simulated there were no significant differential effects and various methodological reasons are offered for this departure from expectations.

Can tonic accommodation predict surgical performance?

BACKGROUND: Pilots undergo many visual tests for both selection and assessment, and we know that there are many similarities between pilots and surgeons. Hence, it would not be unreasonable to bring similar visual tests into surgery. Tonic accommodation (TA) is a stable parameter that is adopted by the eye in the absence of any stimulation. Over recent years, surgery has undergone change from traditional open surgery to minimally invasive procedures, bringing many advantages. However, not every surgeon has the ability to perform under conditions where the operative field is represented on a flat monitor. METHOD: We determined the TA values in medical students and then correlated this with their performance on a virtual reality surgical simulator. RESULTS: We found that TA values predicted the number of errors made with the dominant hand, accounting for 27% of the variance. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that TA may play a role in the individual differences that are noted when surgeons perform laparoscopic surgery. Further studies are needed to evaluate the exact role of TA in surgical performance.

Effect of signal length on the performance of independent component analysis when extracting the lambda wave.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of signal length on the performance of a signal source separation method, independent component analysis (ICA), when extracting the visual evoked potential (EP) lambda wave from saccade-related electro-encephalogram (EEG) waveforms. A method was devised that enabled the effective length of the recorded EEG traces to be increased prior to processing by ICA. This involved abutting EEG traces from an appropriate number of successive trials (a trial was a set of waveforms recorded from 64 electrode locations in a study investigating saccade performance). ICA was applied to the saccade-related EEG and electro-oculogram (EOG) waveforms recorded from the electrode locations. One spatial and five temporal features of the lambda wave were monitored to assess the performance of ICA applied to both abutted and non-abutted waveforms. ICA applied to abutted trials managed to extract all six features across all seven subjects included in the study. This was not the case when ICA was applied to the non-abutted trials. It was quantitatively demonstrated that the process of abutting EEG waveforms was useful for ICA preprocessing when extracting lambda waves.