Interactions Between Depth Cues and Configural Cues

When an edge is perceived as the boundary of a shape lying on one of its sides, the shaped side also typically appears to be nearer to the viewer than the complementary side.  Other cues, including binocular disparity, also specify the distance to a shape or surface.  We are also investigating how shape properties combine with binocular disparity to produce a perception of depth.  We have found that the size of the depth step perceived between two adjacent regions sharing an edge is affected by both binocular disparity and the shape properties on opposite sides of the edge (properties such as convexity and/or familiarity; Burge, Peterson, and Palmer, 2005).  These experiments suggest that past experience with shapes is integrated into the depth perception process.