[Statistical efficiency of depth discrimination in stereoscopically overlapped and step-edge patterns]

We compared observers' statistical efficiencies of depth discrimination for two stereoscopic patterns: an overlapped pattern where two planes are overlapped at different depths, and a step-edge pattern where two planes are arranged side by side. In both patterns, elements in one plane were differentiated from those in the other plane by color (red vs. green) or orientation (45 deg vs. -45 deg). In the experiment, subjects were required to determine which plane was in front when Gaussian disparity noise was added to both of the elements' disparity values. The results showed that efficiencies were the same level for both patterns when the elements were differentiated by color. On the other hand, efficiencies were lower for the overlapped pattern than the step-edge pattern when the elements were differentiated by orientation regardless of the set size of elements. The patterns which we used were so sparse that the differences between the color and orientation conditions should arise from the process after matching.