Spatial judgments with monoscopic and stereoscopic presentation of perspective displays

Spatial judgments with monoscopic and stereoscopic presentation of perspective displays were investigated in the present study. The stimulus configuration emulated a visual scene consisting of a volume of airspace above a ground reference plane. Two target symbols were situated at various positions in the space, and observers were instructed to identify the relative depth or altitude of the two symbols. Three viewing orientations (15, 45, or 90 deg elevation angle) were implemented in the perspective projection. In the monoscopic view, depth cues in size, brightness, occlusion, and linear perspective were provided in the format. In the stereoscopic view, binocular disparity was added along the line of sight from the center of projection to reinforce the relative depth in the visual scene. Results revealed that spatial judgments were affected by manipulation of the relative spatial positions of the two target symbols and by the interaction between relative position and viewing orientation. The addition of binocular disparity improved judgments of three-dimensional spatial relationships, and the enhancement was greater when monocular depth cues were less effective and/or ambiguous in recovering the three-dimensional spatial characteristics.