A novel 3D/dichoptic presentation system compatible with large field eye tracking

Abstract

Traditional 3D and dichoptic presentation system usually uses a mirror stereoscope with a set of prisms and mirrors or colored glasses (red-green glasses) to split the view of the eyes looking at a computer display. Although these types of setups are useful in varieties of psychophysical and neuroscience studies, they have limitations. The colored glasses usually have a noticeable leak between the eyes. They also have a binocular rivalry effect over the visual field. Color glasses are hard to use for people with color deficits. Naïve subjects and clinical populations with visual impairment usually have a hard time to fuse with the mirror-prism setup. More importantly, the mirror stereoscope with a standard computer display usually does not provide a viewing angle that is big enough for a reliable measurement of fast and continuous eye movements over a large field. It is also insufficient for experiments examining visual motion and eye movements, for which it is crucial that the observers should not see the external reference frame, such as the edges of the mirrors. Although a projection system with a large screen and the active shutter glasses can provide a large viewing field, the active shutters can cause a 50% loss of the eye-tracking data. The presentation and eye-tracking system that we have developed can offer the following functions in one integrated setup: 1) No interruption of the eye tracking signals that currently occurs with active shutter glasses; 2) Large-field presentation, necessary for reliable measurement of the eye movement over a wide range of speeds and over a large distance; 3) Natural viewing experience like in movie theaters, which is important for reliable measurement in naive observers. The system is affordable and portable (except the screen), and can serve as part of other research setups, such as human brain imaging instruments. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2014