Definition and detection of binocular disparity

Stereoacuity experiments tested definitions of binocularly disparate spatial positions by perturbing the binocular correspondence of the two half-images. Dichoptic translations perturbed zero-order retinal positions; expansions perturbed first-order horizontal separations; rotations perturbed first-order orientations; and anisotropic expansions deformed first-order two-dimensional (2D) structure. Each transformation perturbed relative positions in the two half-images by more than 100 arcsec, but stereoacuity thresholds remained about 10 arcsec. Binocular disparity involves second-order 2D differential structure of the monocular half-images, specifying local surface shape. Stereoacuity is much better than nonstereo acuity, suggesting that monocular spatial signals are binocularly correlated.