Ecologically Invalid Monocular Texture Leads to Longer Perceptual Latencies in Random-Dot Stereograms

Two experiments were conducted to explore Gillam and Borsting's (1988, Perception 17 603–608) report that uncorrelated monocular texture facilitates stereopsis by shortening the latency to see depth in random-dot stereograms. Experiment 1 used stereograms similar, in pattern but not disparity, to Gillam and Borsting's with monocular texture present or absent. A third condition, where monocular texture was dissimilar to the binocular panels and background, was also used. We were unable to generalize the findings of Gillam and Borsting for a depth step of 6 min of arc to a larger depth step of 24 min of arc. That is, we observed no significant difference in latencies between the conditions with monocular texture absent and present at a disparity of 24 min of arc. We found latencies to be significantly longer in the monocular-texture-different condition than the monocular-texture-absent condition, however. We account for this, ad hoc, by arguing that the monocular-texture-different stereogram depicts a rare or ‘accidental’ visual scenario. This account was supported by the results of experiment 2 which showed that stereograms depicting accidental views yielded longer latencies than those depicting generic views. We conclude that the ecological validity of monocular texture must also be considered when assessing the effects of monocular texture on stereopsis.