Comparison of depth cues for relative depth judgments

This paper reports on two experiments in which subjects judged the relative depth ordering and subjective quality of depth of simple, geometric figures (planar circle, square, and triangle). The 3-D images were presented on a Tektronix SGS 620 field-sequential stereoscopic CRT. Four sources of depth information (cue types) were combined factorially to construct exemplary 3-D images: Relative Size (angular subtense decreased with increasing depth); Disparity (binocular disparity varied from crossed to uncrossed with increasing depth); Interposition (closer figures overlapped ones farther away in depth); and Luminance (luminance decreased with increasing depth). Inclusion of each of the three monocular cues produced significantly faster depth judgments. However, there was a lack of significant response time effects associated with binocular disparity. Conversely, stereo presentations strongly improved ratings of subjective image quality. These data indicate that stereoscopic images may provide subjectively more compelling depth information than images containing only monocular cues. However, they also provide evidence for at least one limitation of stereoscopic display utility.

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