Abstract
Wallach and Karsh (1963) reported that 24 h of monocular occlusion leads to a significant deterioration of stereoscopic depth estimates and attributed this phenomenon to “disuse.” We designed an apparatus for testing stereoscopic accuracy which eliminated all cues to depth save binocular disparity. With it, we tested the relative effect of 8 h of monocular—;as opposed to binocular—;occlusion on subsequent stereoscopic performance. Monocular patching led to significant increases in mean standard deviation and in mean absolute error as compared to baseline testing. Binocular patching led to no such impairment. Thus, truedisuse (such as occurs during binocular deprivation) did not impair stereopsis, whereas monocular occlusion, which may involve temporarymisuse of the stereoscopic system, did.
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This research was supported by NIMH Grant 5-K05-MH-18739 and 2-R01-MH-13269 to Howard P. Roffwarg and by NIMH Training Grant 2-T01-MH-06418, which supported John H. Herman’s postdoctoral fellowship.
The authors gratefully express their appreciation to Lloyd Kaufman of New York University for his help in designing the apparatus and writing this paper.
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Herman, J.H., Tauber, E.S. & Roffwarg, H.P. Monocular occlusion impairs stereoscopic acuity, but total visual deprivation does not. Perception & Psychophysics 16, 225–228 (1974). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203933
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203933