Neural correlates of stereoscopic depth perception: A fNIRS study

The aim of the present study was to explore the brain region correlated with stereoscopic depth perception with different degree of binocular disparities. fNIRS was used to measure the neural activity of the occipital cortex induced by random-dot stereogram (RDS) with disparities from 0.1° to 1.5° and analyzed the strength and activation pattern from participants with left and right eyedness. Results revealed that the visual cortex was spatial correlated with the binocular disparity and there was a left lateralization effect for right-eye-dominant participants. Furthermore, binocular disparity around 0.5° led the strongest activation, whereas binocular disparity exceed 1.1° led lower activation which could be caused by visual fatigue. The present study supported the feasibility of fNIRS to assess the neural correlates of stereoscopic depth perception, to optimize the stereoscopic vision, and to objective evaluation of visual fatigue.