Interactions between cues to visual motion in depth

Information about the motion in depth of an object along the midline of a stationary observer is provided by changes in image size (looming), changes in vergence produced by changes in binocular disparity of the images of the object, and changes in relative disparity between the moving object and a stationary object. Each of these cues was independently varied in the dichoptiscope, which is described in Howard, Fukuda, and Allison (2013). The stimuli were a small central dot and a textured surface moving to and fro in depth along the midline. Observers tracked the motion with the unseen hand. Image looming was normal or absent. The change in vergence was absent, normal, more than normal, or reversed relative to normal. Changing relative disparity between the moving stimulus and a stationary surface was present or absent. Changing vergence alone produced no motion in depth for the textured surface but it produced some motion of the dot. Looming alone produced strong motion in depth for the texture but not for the dot. When the direction of motion indicated by looming was opposite that indicated by changing relative disparity observers could use either cue. The cues dissociated rather than combined.