The contribution of stereo vision to one-handed catching.

Abstract

Participants with normal (StereoN) and weak (StereoW) stereopsis caught tennis balls under monocular and binocular viewing at three different speed conditions. Monocular or binocular viewing did not affect catching performance in catchers with weak stereopsis, while the StereoN group caught more balls under binocular vision as compared with the monocular condition. These effects were more pronounced with increasing ball speed. Kinematic analysis of the catch partially corroborated these findings. These results indicate that StereoW catchers have not developed a compensatory strategy for information pick-up, and that negative effects of a lack of stereopsis grow larger as temporal constraints become more severe. These findings also support the notion that several monocular and/or binocular information sources can be used in the control of interceptive action.