Binocular vision is a rather complex process, the result of which is possible only through the work of both eyes, as well as the oculomotor muscles. In addition, in the process of binocular vision, the cerebral cortex is directly involved, giving the necessary signals to the eye muscles, and the visual pathways. The appearance of binocular vision occurs when two monocular images merge into one. Individually, each human eye sees a specific object from several different positions. Therefore, images of any object in each of the eyes are always transversely offset relative to each other. This phenomenon is called "disparity." There is a transverse disparity phenomenon that appears with binocular vision and is the basis of deep vision. With one eye, a person can only very roughly estimate the entire depth of the surrounding space. This is possible only with a certain linear, air or light perspective. Therefore, it is clear why binocular vision and monocular vision are so different in terms of human perception of a qualitative three-dimensional image of the surrounding space.
Three-dimensional perception of space with monocular vision is quite imperfect. For example, close one eye and take a pencil in each hand. Now try to bring the tips of the pencils together. It is unlikely that you will succeed the first time. Binocular vision will allow you to do this operation with little or no effort. In addition, vision with two eyes significantly expands the review of space, is responsible for increasing visual acuity and sensitivity of each eye to light, especially to weak. In addition, binocular vision helps to get rid of the blind spot effect, and also compensates for the quality of vision in case of sudden damage to one of the eyes.
The most important point in the implementation of the correct binocular vision is a clear balance of work and a constant tone of the eye muscles of a person. The ideal balance and balance in the work of the oculomotor muscles is called - “orthophoria”.
But there are also violations of this balance, which occur quite often and are detected in almost 75% of adults, respectively, in the presence of a healthy binocular vision. Such an imbalance, which is a hidden disruption of the eye muscles, is called “heterophory”. Heterophoria is divided into two types. This "esophoria" is the reduction of the visual axes. And the second type - "exophoria" - develops with a tendency to dilute the visual axes.
Binocular vision
The meaning of the binocular vision is to project images of objects located at the same distance from the eyes to different points of the retina of the left and right eye. Imagine that in front of you on the wall is a black circle of paper. If the visual lines of the eyes are in the area of the black circle, its image will in any case fall into the central fossa. If, for example, there are objects that are at a distance from the eyes the same as the black circle, then images of these objects will fall on the retinas of both eyes at points equidistant from the center.
In the process of binocular vision, the most important point is the proper functioning of the eye muscles. They provide constant convergence during the movement of the eyeballs, and also control the exact stop and fixation of both eyes at a selected point in space. With orthophoria, when the balance of the eye muscles is perfectly tuned, there are no significant problems. At the same time, there are people suffering from various forms of heterophory, for example, strabismus.
The formation of binocular vision in a child takes place during the first three months of life. When a baby is just born, he does not yet have this kind of vision.
High-quality binocular vision is the key to success for people of many professions. Basically, it is vital for people whose work is to precisely coordinate in the environment, for example, surgeons and doctors of other similar specialties, biathlon athletes, drivers, military, etc. Studies of binocular vision are constantly ongoing, as they can become very important in medicine in the treatment of various eye diseases.