On the analysis of nerve signals deduced from metacontrast experiments with human observers. (1/1444)

1. This paper reviews Alpern, Rushton & Torii's (1970a-d) derivation of the size of the inhibitory nerve signal arising from after flashes in the metacontrast experiment. 2. Their geometric argument is recast in terms of simple functional equations. This form of argument clearly displays the role of their assumptions in obtaining their main conclusion: nerve signal is linear in intensity over a range of 3-4 log units. 3. Two disadvantages of their approach are discussed. First, it is noted that in the presence of the data the assumption they employ in their analysis is logically equivalent to their conclusion. 4. Secondly, accepting their claim that the nerve signal generated by the after flash is linear over a broad range of intensities, and that this inhibitory signal simply cancels the excitatory signal of the test flash, leads to the conslusion that over this same intensity range the excitatory nerve signal is a power function with an exponent of close to two. This is incompatible with the suggestion that photoreceptor signals have been measured.  (+info)

Chromatic masking in the (delta L/L, delta M/M) plane of cone-contrast space reveals only two detection mechanisms. (2/1444)

The post-receptoral mechanisms that mediate detection of stimuli in the (delta L/L, delta M/M) plane of color space were characterized using noise masking. Chromatic masking noises of different chromaticities and spatial configurations were used, and threshold contours for the detection of Gaussian and Gabor tests were measured. The results do not show masking that is narrowly-selective for the chromaticity of the noise. On the contrary, our findings suggest that detection of these tests is mediated only by an opponent chromatic mechanism (a red-green mechanism) and a non-opponent luminance mechanism. These results are not consistent with the hypothesis of multiple chromatic mechanisms mediating detection in this color plane [1].  (+info)

Long range interactions between oriented texture elements. (3/1444)

Long range interactions between texture elements (short, oriented line segments) were examined. Specifically, we studied the influence of a background array of texture elements on the detectability of a target element (separated from the background by an intermediate textured region) using textures like those of Caputo (Vis. Res. 1996, 36, 2815-2826). We found that, in general, when the background elements were oriented orthogonally to the target element, detection of the target element was better than when the background elements had the same orientation as the target element. We discuss these interactions in terms of inhibitory and excitatory connections between orientation and spatial frequency selective linear filters (e.g. filters which mimic V1 simple cells) which would respond to the individual texture elements.  (+info)

Transducer model produces facilitation from opposite-sign flanks. (4/1444)

Small spots, lines and Gabor patterns can be easier to detect when they are superimposed upon similar spots, lines and Gabor patterns. Traditionally, such facilitation has been understood to be a consequence of nonlinear contrast transduction. Facilitation has also been reported to arise from non-overlapping patterns with opposite sign. We point out that this result does not preclude the traditional explanation for superimposed targets. Moreover, we find that facilitation from opposite-sign flanks is weaker than facilitation from same-sign flanks. Simulations with a transducer model produce opposite-sign facilitation.  (+info)

Reading with simulated scotomas: attending to the right is better than attending to the left. (5/1444)

Persons with central field loss must learn to read using eccentric retina. To do this, most adopt a preferred retinal locus (PRL), which substitutes for the fovea. Patients who have central field loss due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), most often adopt PRL adjacent to and to the left of their scotoma in visual field space. It has been hypothesized that this arrangement of PRL and scotoma would benefit reading. We tested this hypothesis by asking normally-sighted subjects to read with the left or right half of their visual field plus 3.2 degrees in the contralateral field masked from view. Letter identification, word identification, and reading were all slower when only the information in the left visual field was available. This was primarily due to the number of saccades required to successfully read to stimuli. These data imply that patients would be better off with PRL to the right of their scotoma than to the left for the purposes of reading.  (+info)

The spatial tuning of color and luminance peripheral vision measured with notch filtered noise masking. (6/1444)

We have measured the spatial bandwidths of the bandpass red-green chromatic and luminance mechanisms at four locations in the nasal visual field (0, 10, 20 and 30 degrees) using a method of notch filtered noise masking which effectively removes the artifact of off-frequency looking for our stimuli. Detection thresholds were measured for luminance or isoluminant red-green Gaussian enveloped test gratings of 0.5 cpd embedded in 1/f noise. Firstly, thresholds were obtained as a function of increasing noise spectral density and were fitted using a standard noise masking model. These results support the existence across the visual field of independent, red-green chromatic and luminance mechanisms with similar sampling efficiencies. Secondly, we measured thresholds in notch filtered noise as a function of notch width and derived the spatial bandwidth of the detection mechanism. We find both color and luminance mechanisms have similar bandwidths which remain virtually constant across eccentricity. These results indicate strong overall similarities between the early processing of color and luminance vision, and lend support to the role of color as an 'intrinsic image' in spatial vision. The results are discussed in the light of the anchored channel and shifting channel models of peripheral contrast sensitivity and pattern detection.  (+info)

Orientation discrimination and tilt aftereffects with luminance and illusory contours. (7/1444)

Orientation discrimination and tilt aftereffects (TAEs) were measured to determine if the orientation of luminance and illusory contours are processed by separate mechanisms. The assumption was made that if a single mechanism supports the perception of both types of contours, then illusory and luminance contours that support the same level of orientation discrimination will be equally effective adapting patterns. Experiment I found that orientation discrimination psychometric functions for illusory and luminance contours are similar, confirming that performance could be matched. Experiment II measured orientation discrimination for a range of intensities for both contours. Experiment III measured TAEs following adaptation to illusory and luminance contours that supported a similar range of orientation discrimination. Similar TAEs were not observed, thus rejecting the single mechanism hypothesis. Experiments IV and V sought to validate the assumption that equivalent orientation discrimination predicts equivalent TAEs by using stimuli that seemed likely to be represented by the same visual mechanism. Luminance contours masked by randomly placed dots and unmasked luminance contours were used with the same procedures as experiments II and III. Equal TAEs were not observed for masked and unmasked contours matched on orientation discrimination, suggesting the assumption relating discriminability to adaptation was incorrect.  (+info)

The time course of psychophysical end-stopping. (8/1444)

This study measured the time course of psychophysical end-stopping and compared it with the time course of masking. For a 10' D6 target on an 18' D6 pedestal, two abutting end-zone masks (each 13.5' long) covering the filter end-zones reduce masking. This facilitatory 'end-stopping' effect was measured over a range of exposure durations and stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). We found that psychophysical end-stopping has a delayed onset which is around 70-100 ms after stimulus onset, in contrast to masking which is robust immediately after stimulus onset, suggesting intracortical feedback processes in the generation of psychophysical end-stopping. The development course of psychophysical end-stopping is relatively long and lasts for approximately 150-200 ms after stimulus onset, in contrast to that of masking which lasts for approximately 100-150 ms. Our results also showed that end-stopping occurs only when the center mask and the end-zone masks have sufficient temporal overlap, possibly indicating that the feedback process for generating end-stopping is triggered by the activation of the spatial filter center by the center mask. These results are in tune with current knowledge of intracortical feedback modulating activities of receptive fields, and have been incorporated into our model to describe the temporal dynamics within end-stopped spatial filters.  (+info)