On the Relationship Between Sensory Eye Dominance and Stereopsis in the Normal-Sighted Adult Population: Normative Data

The extent of sensory eye dominance, a reflection of the interocular suppression in binocular visual processing, can be quantitatively measured using the binocular phase combination task. In this study, we aimed to provide a normative dataset for sensory eye dominance using this task. Based on that, we also assessed the relationship between perceptual eye dominance and stereopsis. One-hundred and forty-two adults (average age: 24.00 ± 1.74 years old) with normal or corrected to normal monocular visual acuity (logMAR < 0.00) participated. Observer’s sensory eye dominance was quantified in two complementary ways: the interocular contrast ratio when the two eyes were balanced (i.e., the balance point) and the absolute value of the binocular perceived phase when each eye viewed maximum contrast stimuli in binocular phase combination task. Stereo acuities were measured with maximum contrast stimuli using an identical spatial frequency (0.30 cycles/degree) and stimulus arrangement to that used in the eye dominance assessment. The averaged balance point was 0.93 ± 0.06 (Mean ± SD), the averaged absolute value of the binocular perceived phase when both eyes viewed maximum contrast stimuli was 7.62 ± 5.91°, and the averaged stereo acuity was 2.19 ± 0.34 log arc seconds. Neither of these two sensory eye dominance measures were significantly correlated with stereo acuity (Balance point: ρ = 0.14, P = 0.10; Phase: ρ = −0.13, P = 0.13). The sensory eye dominance, as reflected using a phase combination task, and stereopsis are not significantly correlated in the normal-sighted population at low spatial frequencies.