- Stereoscopic vision - as the first answerer says, the eyes each perceive a slightly different version of the world, and the brain can use this discrepancy to guess at the depths of various objects.
- Overlap - if part of object A appears to be blocked by the shape of object B, object A is probably behind object B. (Consider a man peeking from behind a tree.)
- Tapering - the sides of regular, parallel objects appear to get smaller the further away they are from us, so the brain can use this tapering to infer depth.
- Relative movement - as we move, objects near to us seem to whiz by our visual fields, while objects further away (e.g. mountains) move relatively much less.
- Light and shading - since light tends to come principally from one direction, a three dimensional shape should have its sides shaded differently depending on how much they are facing towards or away from the light.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkB5Kp5OW20rnQJzx4BDFUk82lO75top5ER2i_5djPyjc2hHcTMbTxNADHcl_L1h4emu32fYlksz_MVs5uvMbUQPToqemsPBNLQjkuAuepR1pQFWMv0PTh7gmay-mtQMEBj1m67srusFTW/s320/book.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ctFk1niCAXjb3jkPbXB61zZaAyUkbeM5-eHESOV0l1vSdrZFFt14ocjjZ8MkpkjRO-2OCF1nkoHZlc-XJrYO_peuKogRaG4aThRbO9cdv36AgogkUIW4TE42iyT1C6itQ0vvGAw0vqtf/s320/bookcase.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3158xWlrMjHrBXZUEahybPQ3RBYaelK9Xvh3ZoYt1JF3aK9jEonJRcZ4gTp7FXBBh1xiz1roMPxhDSCOQ_1t0-5SK1odre4Mq2s9TJ18T8_thQxgGKzIkvbPkz_X9RRc_tX051kbR0OmT/s200/Wedding+Cake.gif)
Hope this helps! If this interests you, I can do no better than to refer you to chapter 4 of "How the Mind Works" by Steven Pinker.
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