Evidence for surface-based processing of binocular disparity

It is convenient to think of an object's location as a point within a Cartesian framework; the x axis corresponds to right and left, the y axis to up and down, and the z axis to forward or backward. When an observer is looking straight ahead, binocular disparities provide information about distance along the z axis from the fixation plane 1, 2. In this coordinate system, changes in disparity are treated as independent of changes in location along the orthogonal x and y axes. Does the human visual system use this three-dimensional coordinate system, or does it specify feature location in a coordinate frame determined by other nearby visible features? Here we show that the sensitivity of the human stereo system is determined by the distance of points with respect to a local reference plane, rather than by the distance along the z axis with respect to the fixation plane. There is a distinct advantage to using a local frame of reference for specifying location. It obviates the need to construct a complex three-dimensional space in either eye-centered or head-centered coordinates that must be updated with every shift of the eyes and head.