Depth attraction and repulsion of disparate foveal stimuli

Interaction in the domain of disparity can be either of the kind where the depth difference between adjacent targets is enhanced, as if the two targets repelled each other in depth, or it may be in the opposite direction, i.e. having the character of attraction. In the fovea, interaction between stimuli is of the latter kind if targets are separated by less than 2-8 min of arc, dependent on their positions and the observer; for further separations, repulsion is exhibited. When disparate neighbors induce a change in depth of a visual feature, only a portion of the effect can be ascribed to monocular localization shifts in the two monocular retinal images. Both attraction and repulsion can occur between targets of opposite contrast. Depth interaction measured by a psychophysical nulling method increases monotonically with disparity in the regions clearly governed by the repulsion and the attraction regimen; in the transition region, repulsion overtakes attraction when the disparity becomes larger. If the concept of "pooling" of disparity is invoked to account for the affinity of seen depth of closely-adjacent stimuli, the signals involved cannot be simply those of light weighted by disparity, but must be associated with individual features.