Re: stereovision question

[P3D Jim Crowell <crowell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 8:34 PM 4/8/96, P3D Josh Rubin wrote:
>
>I would guess that the flip side is that someone born monocular
>would perform better than the binocular masses on tests of
>monocular depth perception.

Actually, I doubt it.  But I don't know for sure.

>
>Somehow, the Pulfrich effect and the fact that you can
>experience a compelling sense of "stereoscopic" depth from
>an appropriate monocular display imply to me that
>at least some material part of the stereoscopic wetware
>can be conscripted to enhance depth perception from monocular
>cues.

I think the Pulfrich effect just suggests that the visual system
isn't set up to deal properly with large differences in contrast
between the two eyes--probably because they don't occur in
everyday life.

It leads to a very interesting & more general question, however.
Given that the signals from the retina may take a 1 or 2
hundred milliseconds to reach the brain--& how long it takes
depends on the strength of the signal--how can anyone ever catch
a baseball?  People are starting to look at this kind of
question, but I don't think we're really close to an answer.

>Does (can) the visual
>cortex adapt like the language centers do, in which the
>right hemisphere will assume the tasks of the damaged left
>hemisphere if the damage is early?

It's very hard to say, because there doesn't seem to be such a
large difference in function between the visual areas of the two
hemispheres.

-Jim C.


------------------------------------------------
Jim Crowell
School of Optometry
360 Minor Hall
University of California
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(510) 642-7679
jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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