Size constancy, depth constancy and vertical disparities: a further quantitative interpretation

Abstract

The size and depth constancies considered here operate only at near distances (< about 2 m) in a static stimulus situation with vergence as the only cue to distance. The innervation of the extraocular muscles, as evidenced by the corollary discharge, provides information about the vergence of the eyes and hence about the egocentric distance both for symmetrical and asymmetrical vergences. Size and depth constancies are regarded as the first and second stages of a linked two-stage process. In the lateral geniculate nuclei compensatory adjustments are separately applied to each retinal image as they are received from the two eyes. The modified ocular images, with their associated vertical and horizontal disparities, now provide synaptic inputs to binocularly activated cells in the visual cortex. Then, by a process akin to the induced effect, cortical cells with geniculate afferents with vertical disparities will have their outputs expressed in terms of horizontal disparities. The horizontal disparity outputs of these cortical cells are then further multiplied by the outputs from cortical cells with geniculate afferents with horizontal disparities. It is this second multiplicative process that brings about the quadratic relationship between horizontal retinal disparity and egocentric distance. The proposed mechanisms involve the known ability of the visual system to detect and respond to vertical as well as horizontal disparities and provide a definite role for the induced effect in the perceptual process. The above neural model is based on fairly simple equations that give a remarkably adequate description of the operation of the two constancies.