Simple kinetic information for transparent depth

The present paper reports three investigations of new kinetic information for transparent depth using computer-generated dot patterns. An initial demonstration showed that separation in depth could be obtained by translating rectangular lattices of dots through one another like intersecting columns of marching soldiers. The first two experiments showed that diagonal interactions between lattices created significantly stronger separation than did horizontal or vertical interactions (horizontal was, in turn, stronger than vertical) and that patterns which translated through one another without any of the individual elements intersecting were better separated than those whose rows or columns intersected in register. The third experiment showed that random patterns interacting in any direction created the strongest separations of all the patterns observed. Results were taken to indicate that a unified theory of depth information, developed in the context of James Gibson’s ecological optics, must incorporate both spatial and kinetic structure in its specification of necessary and sufficient stimulus conditions.