Advancing a new theory of stereopsis: Reply to Rogers (2019)

Abstract

Vishwanath (2014) presented analyses and proposed conjectures aimed at a unified understanding of both qualitative and quantitative aspects of stereopsis in pictorial and natural (real-world) 3-dimensional (3D) vision. A recent commentary by Rogers (2019) conceded the key argument in the article, that stereopsis can be induced in the absence of binocular disparity and motion parallax but criticized the wider analyses and conjectures. Rogers argued that a focus on visual appearance and qualitative aspects of 3D perception is unproductive and that the analysis of pictorial space perception adds little to our wider understanding of 3D vision. I argue here that the critique is not persuasive as it misconstrues the distinction between qualitative and quantitative aspects of perception and its claims regarding pictorial depth perception rely on introspections that often do not align with the empirical record. I reaffirm that an integrative focus on both qualitative and quantitative aspects of both pictorial and natural 3D perception is crucial for advancing an understanding of the complex phenomenon of stereopsis.