
When viewing a stereoscopic 3D (S3D) display, the stimuli for binocular vergence (binocular disparity) and accommodation (defocus) are often in disagreement, leading to vergenceaccommodation conflict (VAC). This is likely a significant source of discomfort and greatly affects the usability of such displays. One possible oculomotor strategy to mitigate the strain from VAC is to constrict the pupil, which serves to increase the depth of focus and reduce accommodative demand. The goal of this investigation was to analyze the relationship between by accommodation, vergence and pupil response while performing a precision depth task using an S3D display with varying degrees of VAC. Over the course of one-hour epochs, refractive error, vergence posture and pupil size were recorded at 50 Hz using an eccentric photorefractor. We found multiple strategies for mitigating VAC, including the dampening of the accommodative response and the recruitment of pupil miosis. Though this likely served to relax VAC, not all participants employed this oculomotor strategy, suggesting individual differences that may relate to general discomfort and usability.
Eric S. Seemiller, Eleanor O’Keefe, Lance Kielbaso, Matthew Ankrom, Marc Winterbottom, "Oculomotor Behavior in Response to Vergence-accommodation Conflict" in Electronic Imaging, 2026, pp 334-1 - 334-6, https://doi.org/10.2352/EI.2026.38.2.SDA-334