Multiple matching of features in simple stereograms

AbstractSimple stereograms are used to show that the binocular matching of closely spaced vertical lines can be changed by horizontally connecting some of the vertical lines. The matching that is seen can be gradually changed by incremental modifications to simple visual quantities like the luminance contrast of a local region, or the density of the connecting horizontal lines. For some values of these visual quantities the depth seen is unstable which suggests that the mechanisms responsible for resolving matching ambiguities might be intrinsically dynamic. These changes in binocular matching can also be used to show a hysteresis-like effect in stereopsis. Many of the constraints like ordering, cohesivity, and uniqueness often used in algorithms for resolving ambiguities are perhaps too limiting to allow either such dynamics or the processing of transparent or partially occluded surfaces