Border-ownership-dependent tilt aftereffect for shape defined by binocular disparity and motion parallax

Segmenting a visual object from its surrounds is a critical function that may be supported by a class of cells in the macaque visual cortex known as border-ownership cells. These orientation-tuned cells respond conditionally to the borders of objects defined by luminance or binocular disparity. Recent findings suggest that some border-ownership cells also are selective for the depth of an object. To effectively support perceptual figure-ground segmentation, however, border-ownership cells must have access to information from multiple depth cues and strict depth order selectivity. Here we measure border-ownership-dependent tilt aftereffects in humans to figures defined by either motion parallax or binocular disparity. We find strong tilt aftereffects for both depth cues, which are transferable between cues, but selective for figure-ground depth order. These results suggest that the neural systems involved in figure-ground segmentation have strict depth order selectivity and access to multiple depth cues that are jointly encoded.