Abstract
Binocular interactions of suprathreshold grating patterns have been investigated using a reaction time measure of contrast detection. Simple reaction times were determined for monocular and binocular viewing conditions over a contrast range from .63 to near threshold. The results from all subjects showed binocular summation for contrast levels near threshold, but there was considerable variation across subjects for contrast levels above threshold. Some subjects showed summation over the entire contrast range, but other subjects showed either binocular inhibition or binocular facilitation for some range of contrast levels. The pattern of binocular interaction for a given subject was consistent for several spatial frequencies. The differences in types of interaction between subjects, the variation in magnitude of binocular interaction with contrast level for each subject, and the data from experiments involving stimulation of noncorresponding retinal areas show that the binocular interactions found for suprathreshold stimuli cannot be accounted for on the basis of probability, and must, therefore, result from physiological interactions between the two eyes. These interactions have been investigated further under conditions of (1) induced fixation disparity, (2) horizontal gratings, and (3) orthogonally oriented gratings.
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This work was supported by National Eye Institute Grants ROI EY01139, K07 EY00052, F32 EY015168, and ROI EY01768. E. L. S. also received support from a University of Houston Research Initiation Grant.
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Harwerth, R.S., Smith, E.L. & Levi, D.M. Suprathreshold binocular interactions for grating patterns. Perception & Psychophysics 27, 43–50 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199905
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199905