The Role of Vergence Micromovements on Depth Perception

A new approach in stereo vision is proposed which recovers 3D depth information using continuous vergence angle control with simultaneous local correspondence response. This technique relates elements with the same relative position in the left and right images for a continuous sequence of vergence angles. the approach considers the extremely fine vergence movements about a given fixation point within the depth of field boundaries. It allows the recovery of 3D depth information given the knowledge of the system's geometry and a sequence of pairs [αi, Ci], where αi is the ith vergence angle and Ci is the ith matrix of correspondence responses. The approach has several advantages over the current ones. First, due to its local operation characteristics, the resulting algorithms can be implemented in a modular hardware scheme. Second, unlike currently used algorithms, there is no need to compute depth from disparity values; at the cost of the acquisition of a sequence of images during the micromovements. The approach also greatly reduces the errors in stereo due to the sensor quantization. Last, and most important of all, the approach is supported by experimental results from physiology and psychophysics. Physiological results show that the human eye performs fine movements during the process of fixation on a single point, which are collectively called physiological nystagmus. One such movement, called binocular flicks, happens in opposing directions and produces convergence/divergence of the eyes. These are the micromovements that we suppose are the basis for depth perception. Therefore, the approach proposes a functional correlation between these vergence micromovements, depth perception, stereo acuity and stereo fusion.