Depth perception from motion parallax in the peripheral vision

The depth perception produced by motion parallax in the peripheral vision was investigated. To examine the effects of head movements on the depth perception, two observational conditions were settled, observation with head movements and without them. In experiment 1, the stimuli which simulated the identical amounts of depth were presented at various eccentricities. The results showed that the perceived depth generally decreased with the eccentricity. These results were discussed in relation to the perceived relative velocities. In experiment 2 the motion parallax stimuli which produced the identical relative velocities perceptions at each eccentricity were used. As a results, the amounts of the perceived depth decreased with the eccentricity as experiment 1. These results indicate that the perceived depth decreased with the eccentricity, though the perceived relative velocities were equal. The differences of the perceived depth in the observational conditions were not shown, while the angles of perceived rocking motion with head movements were smaller than that without them. It is suggested that the relation between the perception of depth and of motion obtained from motion parallax can´t be explained by a simple trade-off relation