Neural Mechanisms Underlying Stereoscopic Depth Perception in Cat Visual Cortex

Abstract

Since the basic discoveries of WHEATSTONE (1) in the last century, it has been known that the neural integration of the slightly different images seen by the two eyes is sufficient for the perception of depth. In the intervening period, an impressive body of research has emerged which has explored such topics as the relationship between retinal disparity and perceived depth, the relationship between monocular and binocular recognition of visual stimuli and the relationship between disjunctive eye movements and stereopsis. It is only in the last decade that neurophysiological methods have been applied to problems in this area. The pioneering research of HUBEL and WIESEL (2) showed that single cortical cells could be influenced by visual stimuli presented through either eye. It was soon established (3–6) that single cells in the cat and monkey visual system responded differentially to moving visual stimuli as a function of their retinal disparity.