To examine the roles that complex cells play in stereopsis, we have re
corded extracellularly from isolated single neurons in the striate cor
tex of anesthetized paralyzed cats. We measured binocular responses of
complex cells using a comprehensive stimulus set that encompasses all
possible combinations of positions over the receptive fields for the
two eyes. For a given position combination, stimulus contrast could be
the same for the two eyes (2 bright or 2 dark bars) or opposite (1 br
ight and 1 dark). These measurements provide a binocular receptive fie
ld (RF) profile that completely characterizes complex cell responses i
n a joint domain of left and right stimulus positions. Complex cells t
ypically exhibit a strong selectivity for binocular disparity, but are
only broadly selective for stimulus position. For most cells, selecti
vity for disparity is more than twice as narrow as that for position.
These characteristics are highly desirable if we assume that a dispari
ty sensor should exhibit position invariance while encoding small chan
ges in stimulus depth. Complex cells have nearly identical binocular R
Fs for bright and dark stimuli as long as the sign of stimulus contras
t is the same for the two eyes. When stimulus contrast is opposite, th
e binocular RF also is inverted such that excitatory subregions become
suppressive. We have developed a disparity energy model that accounts
for the behavior of disparity-sensitive complex cells. This is a hier
archical model that incorporates specific constraints on the selection
of simple cells from which a complex cell receives input. Experimenta
l data are used to examine quantitatively predictions of the model. Re
sponses of complex cells generally agree well with predictions of the
disparity energy model. However, various types of deviations from the
predictions also are found, including a highly elongated excitatory re
gion beyond that supported by a single energy mechanism. Complex cells
in the visual cortex appear to provide a next level of abstraction in
encoding information for stereopsis based on the activity of a group
of simple-type subunits. In addition to exhibiting narrow disparity tu
ning and position invariance, these cells seem to provide a partial so
lution to the stereo correspondence problem that arises in complex nat
ural scenes. Based on their binocular response properties, these cells
provide a substantial reduction in the complexity of the corresponden
ce problem.