The Effects of Eccentricity and Vergence Angle upon the Relative Tilt of Corresponding Vertical and Horizontal Meridia Revealed Using the Minimum Motion Paradigm

When the corresponding horizontal meridia of the two eyes are aligned, the corresponding vertical meridia are tilted outwards in a temporal direction, a phenomenon first described by Helmholtz. However, it is not known if this effect is confined to the principal meridia or whether the same relationship exists between corresponding horizontal and corresponding vertical meridia at eccentric retinal locations. We sought to address this issue by exploiting the technique of Nakayama (1977 Proceedings of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrument Engineers 120 2–9) in which the positions of alternating dichoptic images that produce minimal apparent motion were used to measure the relative tilt of corresponding meridia at a range of eccentricities up to ±16 deg away from the fovea. Stimuli were composed of dichoptic images, one containing a blank field and the other a pair of dots, which alternated at a rate of 0.63 Hz and the relative tilt (binocular orientation difference) between the pairs of dots presented to the two eyes was varied between ±11°. Nonius lines were used to maintain vergence angle, which was varied between 28 cm and infinity. Subjects judged which pair of alternating images produced the smallest amount of apparent motion (position change). It was found that at all eccentricities examined the corresponding horizontal meridia were generally aligned but the corresponding vertical meridia were consistently offset (extorted) by about ±2°. The tilts of corresponding principal meridia were typically unaffected when vergence angle was varied, indicating that little or no cyclovergence accompanied changes in horizontal vergence. The results suggest that the binocular correspondence system appears to be mapped by a horizontal shear distortion that extends to retinal locations at least as far as 16 deg away from the foveae. The invariant extorsion of corresponding principal vertical meridia with vergence state is consistent with previous suggestions that the empirical vertical horopter becomes progressively inclined with respect to the vertical as viewing distance increases.

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