"Colour bombardment" - a human visual problem that interferes with the viewing of anaglyph stereo material.

One of the problems with the use of anaglyph stereo material is the human visual phenomenon called "colour bombardment". Certain individuals find it visually distressing to receive an image that is one colour in one eye, and another colour in the other eye, and nausea and/or vertigo are the results of even a brief exposure to such anaglyph material. The problem is not a stereo one, but is an example of the visual phenomenon called "binocular rivalry" ("retinal rivalry"). The incidence of colour bombardment was determined in the present study. Two hundred human subjects (100 male, 100 female) were given various tests, including exposure to red/green anaglyph stereo material. The recorded incidence of colour bombardment in this subject pool was 7.5%. In addition to those who suffered from colour bombardment, many of the other subjects saw the stereo material in more than a single colour. They found this sufficiently irritating as to predicate against the use of anaglyph stereo methods if satisfactory alternatives are available.