Electrophysiological evidence for the existence of coarse and fine disparity mechanisms in human.

Visual sensitivity to stereoscopic disparity changes was measured both psychophysically and by means of evoked potentials. The binocular disparity of a dynamic random-dot stereogram portraying a single flat plane alternated between two values symmetrical about the plane of fixation. The threshold for disparity alternation of the stereoscopic plane was determined at alternation rates between 4 and 12 depth reversals per second (rps). Evoked potential and forced-choice psychophysical estimates of stereoscopic threshold at each reversal frequency agreed, with a mean discrepancy of only +/- 0.1 log units. Evoked potential amplitude was a linear function of log disparity up to about 15 arc min peak to peak disparity. For larger disparities, the evoked potential amplitude versus log disparity function was found to be nonmonotonic with a dip occurring at approximately 26 arc min disparity. Responses to fine disparities of less than 20 arc min lay close to one temporal phase while those evoked by coarse disparities greater than 40 arc min lay near a different phase. The data suggest that disparity processing mechanisms either undergo dynamic changes as disparity increases or that processing shifts between at least two independent mechanisms.