Re: Dominating eye -> stereoblindness ???

[P3D Larry Berlin <lberlin@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 02:20:58 -0500 (EST)
>From: P3D  <PTWW@xxxxxxx>  writes:
>............snip.................
>I don't think it is possible to ambiretinal, or whatever you might call
>it.  I wonder if you're in the "right church, wrong pew?"  I don't see
>the mere fact that one has a dominant eye, or whether it is right vs.
>left, as being related to perceiving depth in stereo images.
>
>Paul Talbot
>

******  As I state in another post, I've developed a significantly higher
ambi-ocular(?) ability than I started with.  I've worked with persons to
whom the stereo nature of a pair of images just does NOT fuse properly,
though they have adequate binocular vision. I've noticed with older folk,
these tendencies are more deeply ingrained. For those with easy stereo
ability age doesn't seem to matter, but if they've spent their life
reinforcing other patterns of cognition, obtaining stereo fusion skills
later on seems more difficult than with younger persons.

I think the dominant eye process does potentially interfere with stereo
perception because it's a phenomenon that happens in the visual processing
centers of the mind, not in the eyes. It's like having a hundred times as
many filters as PhotoShop built in to our sight. Some of those filters are
strongly based on either dominant eye patterns, (giving one eye's input
greater importance than the other) or exclusive selection of valid
information based on which source is the strongest. An awareness of
stereopsis isn't necessary for adequate real life activities so it can be
ignored by habit which is usually automatic and internal or caused by some
special condition. It's far harder to instruct someone about what to do with
their mind than it is to try and tell them where to aim their eyes.

While viewing stereograms there are moments when my eyes are properly
adjusted to the image but during which the comparitive information hasn't
been processed. At such times the patterns remain flat though I clearly see
them with both eyes. For some the difference factors are far less familiar
and harder to process into the mental depth construct which is the mechanism
of our sense of sight. If the mind is deprived of part of that information,
we still see adequately, just not as completely. When the mind accepts one
eye's information exclusive of the other eye, or fails to process
comparisons of texture or parallax, then stereo depth awareness is impaired.

Larry Berlin

Email: lberlin@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.sonic.net/~lberlin/
http://3dzine.simplenet.com/


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