Depth perception and strabismus

[pw...@yahoo.com]

I think binocular, stereo "depth perception" is overemphasized. I
read, somewhere, a good article about the fact that, even with one eye,
it gets enough visual cues so that you have enough depth perception for
most situations. Each eye gets something like 5 types of visual cues,
including lighting, shadows, etc., to help with depth perception. I
was just reading a post on sci.med.vision that binocular depth
perception isn't needed when driving, for instance, because it only
improves your single eye depth perception out to about 15 feet or so;
beyond that, you have enough depth perception using just one eye.

I have little, if any, binocular depth perception. I suspect that, if
I *had* it, I could play tennis and a few other sports better, though
there are actually many sports where just one eye is fine. Archery,
riflery, darts, billiards, etc. I've heard can be mastered by people
using just one eye. I get the feeling that sports, where the ball or
other playing object is coming toward you, can be helped by binocular
depth perception moreso than sports where you're throwing or shooting a
ball or other object toward another person or target.