Popular Culture
A stereoscope is a device by which each eye can be presented with different images, allowing stereopsis to be stimulated with two pictures, one for each eye. This has led to various crazes for stereopsis, usually prompted by new sorts of stereoscopes. In Victorian times it was the prism stereoscope (allowing stereo photographs to be viewed), in the 1920s it was red-green glasses (allowing stereo movies to be viewed), in the 1950s it was polarizing glasses (allowing coloured movies to be viewed), and in the 1990s it was Magic Eye pictures (autostereograms). Magic Eye pictures did not require a stereoscope, but relied on viewers using a form of free fusion so that each eye views different images.
Not everyone has the same ability to see using stereopsis. One study shows that 97.3% are able to distinguish depth at horizontal disparities of 2.3 minutes of arc or smaller, and at least 80% could distinguish depth at horizontal differences of 30 seconds of arc.
Read more about this topic: Stereopsis
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