Cue Conflict and Stereoscopic Surface Slant about Horizontal and Vertical Axes

The way in which a planar surface is defined or configured may affect its apparent slant about a given axis, and the magnitude of slant-axis anisotropies. The authors have previously suggested that (i) these within-axis and between-axis configuration effects may be attributable, in part at least, to the perspective—disparity conflict generated when geometrically frontoparallel configured surfaces are slanted stereoscopically; and (ii) that implicit contours, defined by line endings or conjunctions, may have effects analogous to those seen with explicit contours. These possibilities were directly examined in two experiments. In experiment 1, slant-axis anisotropy was progressively induced by adding horizontal lines to a vertical-line (zero anisotropy) grid under conditions of cue conflict; slants about the vertical (but not the horizontal) were attenuated—demonstrating a clear and systematic nexus between surface configuration and slant-axis anisotropy. The presence of regular implicit horizontals similarly and selectively attenuated the slant perceived about the vertical. In experiment 2, cue conflict was seen to exacerbate slant-axis anisotropy, but clearly could not fully account for it. There was an axis asymmetry in the effect of degrading implicit contours: degradation had a marked impact on perceived slant about the horizontal but not the vertical axis.