The effect of pupil size on chromostereopsis and chromatic diplopia: interaction between the Stiles-Crawford effect and chromatic aberrations.

Several studies have reported that the magnitude of chromostereopsis changes as the pupil size changes. Einthoven's theory, that chromostereopsis is determined by interocular differences of monocular transverse chromatic aberration, can not easily explain this change. Therefore, several alternative hypotheses have been introduced, most notably by Vos [(1960) Vision Research, 6, 105-107], who argues that shifts in chromostereopsis with pupil size are due to decentration of the peak of the Stiles-Crawford effect (SCE) with respect to the pupil. We tested this hypothesis by measuring chromostereopsis under both scotopic (no SCE) and photopic conditions with centered and decentered artificial pupils. The results show that the SCE plays an important role in the effect of pupil size on chromostereopsis. Similar changes were also measured in monocular chromatic diplopia which supports the hypothesis that the effect of pupil size on chromostereopsis is due to monocular mechanisms.