INTERACTION OF STEREO AND TEXTURE CUES IN THE PERCEPTION OF 3-DIMENSIONAL STEPS

A computational method for calibrating stereo using shape-from-texture is described together with five experiments that tested whether the h uman visual system implements the method. The experiments all tested t he prediction that the perceived size of a step between two planar and slanted real surfaces should be affected by texture slant cues projec ted on to them that are inconsistent with the disparity cues. The pred icted effect was observed but the results could be accounted for by a new phenomenon revealed in control conditions: the perceived size of a step between two slanted planes is in part determined by the size of the slants even when texture and stereo cues are held consistent. We c onclude that the hypothesis that human stereo is calibrated by texture is not confirmed.