Figure 1. Example of crowding in a simulated everyday scene.

(A) When fixating on the red dot above the horizon, it is relatively easy to spot and recognize the person crossing on the right. However, it is more difficult, or impossible, to recognize the person about to cross the road on the left because of the presence of nearby signs. Images like this one are often used to illustrate how crowding is ubiquitous in everyday natural scenes. (B) However, in real life the two signs and the person on the left may be several meters apart and so each would appear at a different depth from the observer. Currently, little is known about how large, real differences in depth between objects affect crowding. See acknowledgments for image attributions.