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In binocular vision, the eyes are forward-facing and can only partialy move independently of each other. Each eye thus has a slightly different perspective on a scene. This allows the visual cortex of the brain to synthesize the two differing images into one cohesive mental image. These differences in perspective allow the brain to triangulate distance much more accurately, and thus result in vastly improved depth perception. Binocular vision contributes to depth perception at close distances, within 18-20 feet; beyond that, the brain relies on less precise cues, such as shadows and (especially) the relative motion of objects at different distances to generate depth information.

Animals in which binocular vision has been disabled (e.g. through accident to one of the eyes) may compensate for the loss through motion of the head; these shifts in perspective provide a rudimentary sort of binocular vision by exploiting motion parallax.

Binocular vision is a feature common amongst many hunting animals, but also amongst primates which rely upon it when navigating complex three-dimensional environments.

Binocular vision comes at the expense of a wider field of view, meaning that an animal must rely on other senses to see what is behind it or on the periphery. For many prey species, like cows or horses, the wider field of view given by side-facing eyes and monocular vision is a better adaptation, since it reduces the chance that a predator could sneak up on them.

1 Rembrandt as a patient without binocular vision

People whose eyes failed to align correctly could be unable to form binocular vision. However, to an artist, this disability could have been a gift.

In an article published on September 16, 2004 in The New England Journal of Medicine, Margaret S. Livingstone , professor of neurobiology of Harvard Medical SchoolHarvard Medical School is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. It is a prestigious American medical school located in the Longwood Medical Area section of Boston, Massachusetts. The school was established in 1782, and was moved from Cambridg, suggests that RembrandtRembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn ( July 15, 1606 October 4, 1669) is generally considered one of the greatest painters in European art history, and the most important United Provinces ( Netherlands) painter of the seventeenth century. Rembrandt was also a p ( July 15July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining. Events 1099 Christian soldiers take Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after a difficult siege during First Crusade. 1207 John of England, 1606Events January 27 The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins ending in their execution on January 31 May 17 Supporters of Vasili Shusky invade the Kremlin and kill pretender Dmitri December 26 Shakespeare's King Lear performed in court Storm bu- October 4October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). There are 88 days remaining. Events 610 Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, otherthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor. 1582 Pope Gregory XIII implements the, 1669Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. The Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb destroys several Hindu temples and banned the whole religion, so Hindus rebel. Antonio Stradivari makes his first violin Famine in Bengal kills 3 million people The Hanseatic Leagu), generally considered one of the greatest painterA painter is a person who paints woodwork, walls, etc. for a trade. See: decorator. portrait in Montmartre In the fine arts, a painter is a person who creates paintings—two-dimensional artworks—tby applying a coloured emulsion called paint to a flat surfas in European art history, suffered from this disability. She made this conclusion after studied 36 of Rembrandt's self-portraits.

Because Rembrandt could not form a normal binocular vision, his brain automatically switched to one eye for many visual tasks. This could have helped him to flatten images as he saw, and then put it onto the two-dimensional canvas. In the author's words:

Art teachers often instruct students to close one eye in order to flatten what they see. Therefore, stereoblindness might not be a handicap -- and might even be an asset -- for some artists.