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How do different properties of natural images and scenes contribute to this uncertainty? Using binocular disparity as a model system, we report a systematic investigation of how various forms of natural stimulus variability impact performance in a stereo-depth discrimination task. With stimuli sampled from a stereo-image database of real-world scenes having pixel-by-pixel ground-truth distance data, three human observers completed two closely related double-pass psychophysical experiments. In the two experiments, each human observer responded twice to ten thousand unique trials, in which twenty thousand unique stimuli were presented. New analytical methods reveal, from this data, the specific and nearly dissociable effects of two distinct sources of natural stimulus variability\u2014variation in luminance-contrast patterns and variation in local-depth structure\u2014on discrimination performance, as well as the relative importance of stimulus-driven-variability and internal-noise in determining performance limits. Between-observer analyses show that both stimulus-driven sources of uncertainty are responsible for a large proportion of total variance, have strikingly similar effects on different people, and\u2014surprisingly\u2014make stimulus-by-stimulus responses more predictable (not less). The consistency across observers raises the intriguing prospect that image-computable models can make reasonably accurate performance predictions in natural viewing. Overall, the findings provide a rich picture of stimulus factors that contribute to human perceptual performance in natural scenes. The approach should have broad application to other animal models and other sensory-perceptual tasks with natural or naturalistic stimuli.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1012945","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,15]],"date-time":"2025-04-15T16:03:34Z","timestamp":1744733014000},"page":"e1012945","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pcbi.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["How distinct sources of nuisance variability in natural images and scenes limit human stereopsis"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7179-1645","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"David N.","family":"White","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0311-7875","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Johannes","family":"Burge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,15]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1012945.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3656","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-023-38564-9","article-title":"Detailed characterization of neural selectivity in free viewing primates","volume":"14","author":"JL Yates","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1012945.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"351","DOI":"10.1207\/s15516709cog2103_4","article-title":"The correlational structure of natural images and the calibration of spatial representations","volume":"21","author":"R Baddeley","year":"1997","journal-title":"Cognit Sci"},{"issue":"12","key":"pcbi.1012945.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1643","DOI":"10.1038\/nn1608","article-title":"A natural approach to studying vision","volume":"8","author":"G Felsen","year":"2005","journal-title":"Nat Neurosci"},{"issue":"13","key":"pcbi.1012945.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.1167\/19.13.4","article-title":"The statistics of how natural images drive the responses of neurons","volume":"19","author":"A Iyer","year":"2019","journal-title":"J Vis"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1012945.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"267","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-295X.96.2.267","article-title":"Sequential ideal-observer analysis of visual discriminations","volume":"96","author":"WS Geisler","year":"1989","journal-title":"Psychol Rev"},{"issue":"40","key":"pcbi.1012945.ref006","first-page":"16849","volume":"108","author":"J Burge","year":"2011"},{"key":"pcbi.1012945.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Burge J, Geisler WS. 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