Stereoscopic surface perception

Physiological, computational, and psychophysical studies of stereopsis have assumed that the perceived surface structure of binocularly Viewed images is primarily specified by the pattern of binocular disparities in the two e yes' views. A novel set of stereoscopic phenomena are reported that demonst rate the insufficiency of this view. It is shown that the visual system com putes the contrast relationships along depth discontinuities to infer the d epth, lightness, and opacity of stereoscopically viewed surfaces. A novel t heoretical framework is introduced to explain these results. It is argued t hat the visual system contains mechanisms that enforce two principles of sc ene interpretation: a generic view principle that determines qualitative sc ene geometry, and anchoring principles that determine how image data are qu antitatively partitioned between different surface attributes.