P1-26: Influence of Depth from Luminance Contrast on Vergence Eye Movements

Abstract

A vergence eye movement is the simultaneous movement of both eyes in opposite directions to obtain or maintain single binocular vision. It has been shown that a vergence movement is induced not only by binocular depth but also by the changing size of the stimuli, which produces perception of motion in depth. That is, a monocular depth cue influences the direction of the eye movement, even when the eye movement contradicts depth from the disparity cue. Despite that a number of monocular depth cues are known, the influence on the vergence movement is known only with changing size. In this study, we focused on luminance contrast as a monocular depth cue and examined whether it influences the vergence movement. The stimuli were a Gabor patch with contrast changing sinusoidally in time at a given temporal frequency. When the observer looks at the stimuli, apparent depth changes with the contrast change. Eye movement measurements showed vergence movements synchronizing with luminance changes. Change in perceived depth caused by change of the luminance contrast influences vergence movement.