Citation

Walker JT. Hum. Factors 1974; 16(2): 134-138.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1974, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/001872087401600204

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The path of a horizontally moving object, when viewed binocularly, appears distorted in depth if a light shines in only one of the observer's eyes. The image in the lighted eye has a shorter visual latency period than the image in the other eye, and this temporal difference between image latencies translates into an apparent spatial difference between image positions--binocular disparity--which results in the apparent depth displacement of the moving object. In the natural visual environment, one eye can be lighted by the sun while the other is shaded by the nose, and thus, distortions may be produced in the apparent paths of airplanes, or of traffic moving on the ground. The roles that such distortions may play in some air and highway accidents have not been considered previously.

Language: en