Practice effects on the error distance in three-rods test
To investigate whether there is a practice effect in the three-rods test, we first performed 4 sets of consecutive measurements under binocular condition. We found a significant decrease in error distance in the third set compared to the first set (Fig2a. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p = 0.006). Since the legal acceptance criterion for the three-rod test in Japan is set at less than or equal to 20 mm, we further divided the data set into two groups: those whose average error distance in the first set was less than or equal to 20 mm (pass group) and those whose average error distance was greater than 20 mm (fail group). In the fail group, as in the overall group, there was a significant decrease in error distance between the first set and the third set (Fig2b. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p = 0.005). However, in the pass group, there was no significant change in the score due to the repetition of measurement (Fig2c. Friedman test; p = 0.241). The fail group consisted of 14 subjects, of which 9, 10, and 10 reached scores within the acceptance criteria on the second, third, and fourth measurements, respectively. Taken together, these results indicate that scores of subjects who failed in the first set of measurements improved with repetition, indicating the practice effect in the three-rods test.
Effects of monocular cues on the depth perception in three-rods test
We next examined the ability to perceive depth using only monocular cues in the three-rods test. We measured erred distances under the monocular condition and compared them with the erred distances under the binocular and the blind conditions (Fig. 3). Of the 68 subjects who performed continuous measurements under the binocular condition, 50 subjects continued to perform measurements under the monocular condition. In the monocular condition, one set of measurements was performed first by the dominant eye and then by the non-dominant eye. We found that the erred distances under the monocular condition were significantly longer than those in the binocular condition, indicating the existence of binocular cue in the three-rods test (Fig3a. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p < 0.001 for binocular and dominant eye, p = 0.005 for binocular and non-dominant eye). Both the dominant eye and the non-dominant eye under monocular conditions performed better than the blind conditions (Fig3a. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p < 0.001 in each of the blind and other conditions). There was no significant difference in the results between the dominant and non-dominant eyes (Fig3a. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p = 0.900).
To test the ability to perceive depth by monocular cues, we performed one set of measurements under the blind condition following the measurement by the monocular eye. We found that both binocular and monocular conditions performed significantly better than blind condition (Fig3a. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p < 0.001 in each of the blind and other conditions). In blind condition, only 8 out of 50 subjects reached the passing criterion, whereas 19 and 23 subjects reached the passing criterion by the dominant and non-dominant eyes, respectively. These results indicate that there is an approximate 40% chance of passing the test with the monocular eye alone.
Of these 50 subjects, there were two subjects with suppression in one eye due to anisometropia or exotropia and had no binocular stereopsis. These two subjects were able to reach the passing criteria in three out of four measurements and two out of four measurements under the binocular condition respectively. In the monocular condition, they all reached the passing criteria in all measurements of the three-rods test. In addition, there was one subject whose binocular stereopsis was poorer than 60 arcsec in other clinical stereotests (Titmus Stereo Test, Randot Stereo Test, and New Stereo Test). The subject exceeded the passing criteria in all measurements under both binocular and monocular conditions. (Fig3b,3c)
Our results indicate that the three-rods test has a statistically significantly higher probability of reaching the passing criteria even under monocular conditions compared to blind conditions. Although the small sample size did not allow us to show a statistical significance, the results suggest that even humans with no or inferior binocular stereoscopic function may have a higher pass rate than chance. Taken together, our results indicated the existence of both binocular and monocular cues as factors that affect results in the three-rods test.
Effects of rod width on the depth perception in the three-rods test.
It is known that some kinds of monocular cues allow us to determine relative distance and depth. These include relative size, interposition, linear perspective, aerial perspective, light and shade, and monocular motion parallax19. We investigated what type of monocular cue is used in the three-rods test. In the three-rods test, subjects know before the start of the measurements that the widths of all the rods are equal. We hypothesized that subjects use the cognitive information that all rods are the same width as a monocular cue. To test this hypothesis, we modified the width of the central movable rod from 3mm to 5mm and performed measurements under binocular and monocular conditions. First, two sets of measurements were performed under the binocular condition, followed by two measurements under the monocular condition using one of the dominant and non-dominant eyes. This measurement was done on 24 of the 50 people who had done all the measurements.
The results showed that neither of the two monocular conditions differed significantly from the blind condition (Fig4a. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p = 0.680 for blind vs dominant eye, p = 0.900 for blind vs non-dominant eye). Furthermore, in the monocular condition, no subject could score above the criterion for both the dominant eye and the non-dominant eye. (Fig4a)
We also compared the results of the measurements before and after changing the width of the central rod. Changing the width of the rod did not result in significant changes in the measurements under binocular condition (Fig4b. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p = 0.887). In contrast, the use of the wider rod significantly increased the error distance compared to the measurements when the width of rods is equal under the monocular condition (Fig4b. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p = 0.0012) and resulted in no significant difference between the monocular condition and the blind condition (Fig4b. Nemenyi post-hoc test following Friedman test; p = 0.784). These data demonstrate that when the width of the rod is increased, the binocular cue is preserved but the monocular cue is lost, thus indicating that the equal width of rods is a potent monocular cue in the three-rods test.
Of these 24 subjects who performed experiments under conditions where the width of the rods was wider, two of the three people with weak or no stereopsis participated (Fig4c, see also Fig. 3b and c). When the width of the central rod was made wider, neither subject could pass the criterion in all cases in contrast to the results using the normal width of the rod. This result suggests that these subjects passed the criterion in the three-rod test with the normal width of the rod by using the information of equal width of rods as a monocular cue.
Effects of the interpupillary distance on the performance of the three-rods test
Stereopsis is typically quantified by stereoacuity, which is the threshold angular disparity that can be seen in binocular vision. One of the factors which affect stereoacuity is the interpupillary distance (IPD)20. The angular disparity depends on IPD, and the larger IPD would give subjects a better depth perception, which may result in a smaller erred distance in the three-rods test.
To examine this, the mean error distance was plotted against IPD for the normal rod condition and the wider rod condition. The mean error distance in three-rods test showed low correlation with IPD in both normal rod condition (Fig5a. Pearson correlation; n = 68, r = 0.102, p = 0.409) and wider rod condition (Fig5b. Pearson correlation; n = 24, r = 0.067, p = 0.756). These results indicate that differences in IPD in the physiological range do not make a significant difference in the results of the three-rods test.
Correlation between the results of the three-rods test under various conditions and clinical stereopsis tests.
Finally, to investigate the reproducibility and correlation between the three-loss test and the clinical stereopsis test under various conditions, we calculated the Spearman correlation coefficient between each test. (Fig6)
There was a significant positive correlation between the results of the first and second sets of the normal three-rods test performed under binocular condition (Fig6a. Spearman correlation; n = 24, ρ = 0.67, p = 0.0003). However, we did not find a significant correlation between these results and the results of clinically used stereotests. The same result was observed when the width of the rod was increased or tests were done under monocular or blind conditions.
A significant positive correlation was found only between Randot stereotest and Titmus stereotest among the clinical stereoscopic tests (Fig6a. Spearman correlation; n = 24, ρ = 0.69, p = 0.0002). We did not find a significant correlation for the other combinations.