Cue conflict between disparity change and looming in the perception of motion in depth.

We hypothesized that it is the conflict between various cues to distance that have produced results purportedly showing that vergence eye movements induced by disparity change are not an effective cue for depth. Single and compound stimuli were used to examine the perceived motion in depth (MID) produced by simulated motion oscillations specified by disparity, relative disparity, and/or looming. Estimations of the extent of MID and binocularly recorded eye movements showed that the vergence induced by disparity change is indeed an effective cue for motion in depth in conditions where looming information does not conflict with it. When looming and disparity are in conflict, looming is the stronger cue.