Spatial Frequency Channels for Stereoscopic Depth Perception

We investigated spatial frequency tuning of the mechanisms for stereoscopic depth perception, using a masking technique, and compared these tunings with those for luminance pattern detection. Observers discriminated depth direction in random-dot stereograms with various contrasts of a masking pattern, which was dichoptic stimulus of uncorrelated random dots. The strength of masking effect as a function of spatial frequency (i.e., masking function) was measured: masking function approximates the spatial frequency tuning of the mechanism that detects the depth in the test pattern. The masking functions for stereoscopic depth were found to be similar to either of the three of the six spatial frequency channels proposed by Wilson and Gelb (1984) for the detection of luminance patterns.