Binocular adaptation that cannot be measured monocularly.

Abstract

The tilt aftereffect (TAE) is used to demonstrate the existence of a purely binocular process in human vision. A purely binocular process is a process that can be activated only by matched inputs to the two eyes. It is insensitive to monocular stimulation. The TAE can be produced by exposure to a bipartite field with the top tilted to the left of vertical, the bottom to the right. After such adaptation a pair of colinear lines appears bent in the opposite direction. A cyclopean random-dot stereogram can be used as an adapting stimulus. It produces a 2 degree TAE when a cyclopean test stimulus is used and a 1 degree TAE when a binocular but noncyclopean test stimulus is used. If the same noncyclopean pattern is viewed monocularly, no TAE is measurable. The TAE does not transfer from cyclopean adaptation to monocular testing. Apparently, cyclopean stimuli activate a 'purely binocular process' that cannot be activated by either eye alone.