Vertical size disparity induces enhanced neural responses in good stereo observers

Stereoscopic three-dimensional vision requires cortical processing for horizontal binocular disparity between the two eyes' retinal images. Behavioral and theoretical studies suggest that vertical size disparity is used to recover the viewing geometry and to generate the slant of a large surface. However, unlike horizontal disparity, the relation between stereopsis and neural responses to vertical disparity remains controversial. To determine the role of cortical processing for vertical size disparity in stereopsis, we measured neuromagnetic responses to disparities in people with good and poor stereopsis, using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Healthy adult participants viewed stereograms with a horizontal or vertical size disparity, and judged the perceived slant of the pattern. We assessed neural activity in response to disparities in the visual cortex and the phase locking of oscillatory responses including the alpha frequency range using MEG. For participants with good stereopsis, activity in the visual areas was significantly higher in response to vertical size disparity than to horizontal size disparity. The time-frequency analysis revealed that early neural responses to vertical size disparity were more phase-locked in good stereo participants than in poor stereo participants. These results provide neuromagnetic evidence that vertical-size disparity processing plays a role in good stereo vision.