Chromatic induction: border contrast or adaptation to surrounding light?

Chromatic induction from a surrounding light is measured with an additional remote field outside the surround. Chromatic induction from the surround into a central test field is found to be attenuated by a remote inhomogeneous 'checkerboard', composed of squares at two different chromaticities. A uniform remote field, on the other hand, either at the average or at the most extreme chromaticity of the 'checkerboard', has a weaker effect on chromatic induction than the inhomogeneous field, implying that chromatic contrast within the remote region is a critical factor. The complete set of experiments is accounted for by chromatic contrast gain control: chromatic induction, mediated by a neural signal for contrast at the edge of the test, is attenuated by contrast within the remote region. A contrast gain control set by variation in chromaticity over a broad area can contribute to the stable color appearance of surfaces embedded within complex scenes by minimizing chromatic induction from locally adjacent regions.     

Lightness, brightness, and brightness contrast: 1. Illuminance variation

Changes of annulus luminance in traditional disk-and-annulus patterns are perceptually ambiguous; they could be either reflectance or illuminance changes. In more complicated patterns, apparent reflectances are less ambiguous, letting us place test and standard patches on surrounds perceived to be different grays. Our subjects matched the apparent amounts of light coming from the patches (brightnesses), their apparent reflectances (lightnesses), or the brightness differences between the patches and their surrounds (brightness contrasts). The three criteria produced quantitatively different results. Brightness contrasts matched when the patch/surround luminance ratio of the test was approximately equal to that of the standard. Lightness matches were illumination invariant but were not exact reflectance matches; the different surrounds of test and standard produced a small illumination-invariant error. This constant error was negligible for increments, but, for decrements, it was approximately 1.5 Munsell value steps. Brightness matches covaried substantially with illuminance.     

Lightness, equivalent backgrounds, and anchoring

Observers compared two center/surround configurations haploscopically. One configuration consisted of a standard surface surrounded by two, three, or four surfaces, each with a different luminance. The other configuration consisted of a comparison surface surrounded by a single annulus that varied in luminance. Center surfaces always had the same luminance but only appeared to have the same lightness with certain annuli (equivalent backgrounds). For most displays, the luminance needed to obtain an equivalent background was close to the highest luminance in the standards surround configuration. Models based on the space-average luminance or the space-average contrast of the standard surround configuration yielded poorer fits. Implications for computational models of lightness and for candidate solutions to the anchoring problem are discussed.     

Brightness functions for a complex field with changing illumination and background.

Dichoptically presented a cross composed of 7 black to white test-field (TF) regions on a black, gray, or white background (BG) to 10 undergraduate Ss. Illuminance was varied over 2.8 log units in 7 steps, but Ss were preadapted to the average luminance on each trial. The 168 treatments were randomized and then replicated. Treated as power-curves, the 240 brightness contrast-functions had exponents from -.02 to .33. The mean exponents monotonically decreased in value over the 2 white TFs were smaller but nearly constant for the 4 gray TFs and tended to be smallest for the black TF, although for a group of high-scoring Ss, there was a continuous monotonic decrease in the mean exponents over the 7 TFs. Changing BG had virtually no effect on the exponents for the 5 darkest TFs. Generalizations about simultaneous brightness contrast failed to predict y-intercepts of the functions. Exponents for the 3 BGs as TFs also departed from expectations, but their y-intercepts were predictive from a ratio of log ratios of their luminances. Findings demonstrate that brightness contrast-functions for complex displays differ from those for displays with only 2 different regions of luminance. (French summary) (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial interactions in perceived speed

Previous research has shown that the perception of motion within a local region is influenced by other motions within neighboring areas (eg induced motion). Here, a study is reported of the perceived speed of dots moving within a circular target region, which was surrounded by other motions within a larger surrounding area. The perceived speed of the central dots was found to be fastest when the surround was stationary; it became slower as the speed of motion in the surround was increased. This decrease in the perceived target speed with increases in surround velocity occurred regardless of whether the direction in which the surround moved was the same as or opposite to the motion of the target region. This result cannot be explained by using simple models of perceived speed that depend only upon such factors as the magnitude of relative motion between center and surround. The spatial area over which these motion interactions occur was also investigated.     

Clomiphene analogs with activity in vitro and in vivo against human breast cancer cells

The masking procedure by Paradiso and Nakayama (1991) (Vision Research, 31, 1221-1236) was used to investigate brightness filling-in within textures made of line elements: a texture stimulus was masked by a second stimulus containing a square contour. When a uniform texture was presented, the texture region inside the masking square appeared darkened and a small number of texture elements were perceived with a degenerated shape, appearing as dim dots or shorter line elements; it is as if the line element expanded from a bright point to fill the entire region defined by its contour. If the texture stimulus was a texture patch segregating from the surrounding texture by an orientation gradient and this patch was inside the square mask, darkening was not as strong as in the previous condition, and masked line elements preserved their elongated shape. Brightness spreading was measured in two experiments using dichoptic presentations. Experiment 1 used an adjustment task and showed that the brightness of texture line elements spread from equiluminant borders between segregating textures. Experiment 2 used a matching task and demonstrated that spreading was blocked by segregation borders dependent on the orientation gradient between texture line elements. The selectivity for line orientation began 40-80 msec after texture onset and maximal spreading occurred at approximately 120 msec. These findings may indicate that two processes subserve filling-in within textures: the first spreads isotropically the mean stimulus luminance at an initial processing stage of image analysis; at a later stage, the second spreads a texture flow (both brightness and shape of line elements) directed along the orientation of texture line elements. The texture flow mechanism fills in with a texture surface the region bounded by segregation contours.     

Radioligand-binding assay employing P-glycoprotein-overexpressing cells: testing drug affinities to the secretory intestinal multidrug transporter

We report a perceptual phenomenon that originates from a nonlinear operation during the visual process, and we use these observations to study the functional organization of the responsible nonlinearity; the regulation of visual sensitivity to light. When the contrast of a high frequency grating was modulated while its spatial and temporal average luminance was kept constant, observers saw brightness changes or desaturation in the field. If the contrast was modulated periodically between zero and a peak value, observers saw vivid flicker (contrast-modulation flicker), and this flicker could be seen even when the grating was too fine to be visually resolved as a pattern. This uniform-field flicker can be nulled by a modulation of space-average luminance at the contrast-modulation frequency, with appropriate phase and modulation depth. Contrast-modulation flicker is still measurable with gratings at 100 cycles/deg. The dynamics of contrast-modulation flicker suggest that it results from an early sensitivity-controlling mechanism, acting very rapidly (within about 20 msec). Its dependence on stimulus spatial frequency implies a strictly local luminance nonlinearity, one that either resides within individual photoreceptors or operates on signals from individual receptors.     

Continuous measurement of visible persistence.

In the synchrony judgment paradigm, Ss judge whether a click precedes or follows the onset of a light flash and, on other trials, whether or not a click precedes light termination. The interclick interval defines the duration of visible persistence. An elaboration of this method was developed that consisted of 2 phases: In Phase 1, the luminance of a reference stimulus was psychophysically matched to the peak brightness of the test flash. Five luminance values between .1 and 1.0 of the reference stimulus were used subsequently. In Phase 2, a random 1 of the 5 reference stimuli, a test flash, and a click were presented; the Ss judged whether the click occurred before or after the brightness of test flash reached the reference value (on onset trials) or decayed below it (on termination trials). This method was validated on 3 male graduate students with test stimuli whose luminance rose and decayed slowly in time, and then was used to trace out the precise subjective rise and decay (temporal brightness response function) of brief flashes. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy and visual-spatial attention: Effects on perceptual quality.

When we expect important stimuli at a particular spatial location, how does our perceptual sensitivity change over space? Subjects were cued to expect a target stimulus at one location and then required to perform one of the following tasks at that and three other locations: luminance detection, brightness discrimination, orientation discrimination, or form discrimination. The analysis of subjects' performance according to signal detection theory revealed changes in both sensitivity and bias for each of these tasks. Sensitivity was maximally enhanced at the location where a target stimulus was expected and generally decreased with distance from that location. Factors that influenced the gradient of sensitivity were (a) the type of task performed and (b) the spatial distribution of the stimuli. Sensitivity fell off more steeply over distance for orientation and form discrimination than for luminance detection and brightness discrimination. In addition, it fell off more steeply when stimuli were near each other than when they were farther apart. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An empirical explanation of brightness

The striking illusions produced by simultaneous brightness contrast generally are attributed to the center-surround receptive field organization of lower order neurons in the primary visual pathway. Here we show that the apparent brightness of test objects can be either increased or decreased in a predictable manner depending on how light and shadow are portrayed in the scene. This evidence suggests that perceptions of brightness are generated empirically by experience with luminance relationships, an idea whose implications we pursue in the accompanying paper.     

Visual motion aftereffects: critical adaptation and test conditions

The visual motion aftereffect (MAE) typically occurs when stationary contours are presented to a retinal region that has previously been exposed to motion. It can also be generated following observation of a stationary grating when two gratings (above and below it) move laterally: the surrounding gratings induce motion in the opposite direction in the central one. Following adaptation, the centre appears to move in the direction opposite to the previously induced motion, but little or no MAE is visible in the surround gratings [Swanston & Wade (1992) Perception, 21, 569-582]. The stimulus conditions that generate the MAE from induced motion were examined in five experiments. It was found that: the central MAE occurs when tested with stationary centre and surround gratings following adaptation to surround motion alone (Expt 1); no MAEs in either the centre or surround can be measured when the test stimulus is the centre alone or the surround alone (Expt 2); the maximum MAE in the central grating occurs when the same surround region is adapted and tested (Expt 3); the duration of the MAE is dependent upon the spatial frequency of the surround but not the centre (Expt 4); MAEs can be observed in the surround gratings when they are themselves surrounded by stationary gratings during test (Expt 5). It is concluded that the linear MAE occurs as a consequence of adapting restricted retinal regions to motion but it can only be expressed when nonadapted regions are also tested.     

Threshold setting by the surround of cat retinal ganglion cells

1. The slope of curves relating the log increment threshold to log background luminance in cat retinal ganglion cells is affected by the area and duration of the test stimulus, as it is in human pyschophysical experiments. 2. Using large area, long duration stimuli the slopes average 0-82 and approach close to 1 (Weber's Law) in the steepest cases. Small stimuli gave an average of 0-53 for on-centre units using brief stimuli, and 0-56 for off-centre units, using long stimuli. Slopes under 0-5 (square root law) were not found over an extended range of luminances. 3. On individual units the slope was generally greater for larger and longer test stimulus, but no unit showed the full extent of change from slope of 0-5 to slope of 1. 4. The above differences hold for objective measures of quantum/spike ratio, as well as for thresholds either judged by ear or assessed by calculation. 5. The steeper slope of the curves for large area, long duration test stimuli compared with small, long duration stimuli, is associated with the increased effectiveness of antagonism from the surround at high backgrounds. This change may be less pronounced in off-centre units, one of which (probably transient Y-type) showed no difference of slope, and gave parallel area-threshold curves at widely separated background luminances, confirming the importance of differential surround effectiveness in changing the slope of the curves. 6. In on-centre units, the increased relative effectiveness of the surround is associated with the part of the raised background light that falls on the receptive field centre. 7. It is suggested that the variable surround functions as a zero-offset control that sets the threshold excitation required for generating impulses, and that this is separate from gain-setting adaptive mechanisms. This may be how ganglion cells maintain high incremental sensitivity in spite of a strong maintained excitatory drive that would otherwise cause compressive response non-linearities.     

Visual evoked potential assessment of the effects of glaucoma on visual subsystems

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that glaucoma leads to selective deficits in parallel pathways or channels. Sweep VEPs were obtained to isolated-check stimuli that were modulated sinusoidally in either isoluminant chromatic contrast or in positive and negative luminance contrast. Response functions were obtained from 14 control subjects, 15 patients with open-angle glaucoma, and seven glaucoma suspects. For all three groups of subjects we found characteristic differences between the VEP response functions to isoluminant chromatic contrast stimuli and to luminance contrast stimuli. The isoluminant chromatic stimulus conditions appeared to favor activity of the P-pathway, whereas the luminance contrast stimuli at low depths of modulation favored M-pathway activity. VEP responses for patients with OAG were significantly reduced for chromatic contrast and luminance contrast conditions, whereas VEP responses for glaucoma suspects were significantly reduced only for the 15-Hz positive luminance contrast condition. Our results suggest that both M- and P-pathways are affected by glaucoma.     

The horizontal optokinetic response of the goldfish

This report describes the dynamics of the horizontal optokinetic response of the goldfish, and compares them with those of other species. Eye rotational velocity in response to step and sinusoidal rotations of the visual surround was tested using goldfish that had both eyes free to view the surround and to rotate with it. The step response was tested by switching on a visual surround display that was rotating at constant velocity, and then switching off the display, leaving the goldfish in the dark. The step-onset response was characterized by rapid and gradual components; the latter rose with an almost linear trajectory for higher surround velocities. The response was more rapid at step-offset than at step-onset. The step-offset response overshot baseline eye velocity for most goldfish and was oscillatory for the others. The steady-state response increased with constant velocity surround rotation within the range +/- 40 deg/sec but saturated outside that range. Steady-state response gain was higher for nasally-directed that for temporally-directed surround rotations. The frequency response was essentially low-pass, with gain decreasing from about 0.9 and phase lag increasing from zero to 90 deg as surround rotational frequency increased from 0.01 to 3.0 Hz. Sinusoidal response gain decreased as a function of surround peak acceleration. The results indicate that the horizontal optokinetic response of the goldfish is nonlinear and resembles in many respects that of mammals. Models developed to simulate the dynamics of the optokinetic response of mammals can be applied to that of goldfish and reproduce its nonlinear features.     

Rapid sensitivity changes on flickering backgrounds: tests of models of light adaptation

To investigate mechanisms underlying sensitivity changes that are capable of following rapid variations in intensity of the background field, we measured the threshold radiance needed to detect a 2-ms probe flash presented at various phases relative to a sinusoidally flickering background. The temporal frequency, mean luminance, and modulation of the background were systematically varied. The sensitivity change consisted of two components: a phase-insensitive increase in threshold that occurs at all the phases of the background field (a change in the dc level of the threshold), and a phase-dependent variation in threshold. Both components can reliably be measured at temporal frequencies up to approximately 50 Hz. On a 30-Hz background, the threshold varied with phase over roughly 0.5 log unit within a half-cycle (17 ms). For background flicker rates of 20-40 Hz the probe threshold increased with increasing instantaneous background radiance, following a typical threshold-versus-radiance template, and approaching Weber-law behavior during the peak of the background flicker. This pattern of threshold elevation was measured at mean background illuminances from 580 to 9100 Td (trolands), with the dimmer backgrounds being slightly less effective in producing threshold elevations. The measured increase in the dc level commenced as soon as the modulation of the background flicker began, and the amount of threshold elevation followed the envelope of the background flicker, ruling out modulation gain control explanations for the change in sensitivity on flickering backgrounds. The threshold elevations measured on a 30-Hz, 25% modulation background were lower than those measured on a 30-Hz, 100% modulation background at all phases. The measured changes in threshold with changes in background modulation rule out all adaptation models consisting of a multiplicative and a subtractive adaptation processes followed by a single, late, static nonlinearity.     

The specific nature of the color and brightness components of the human visual evoked potential

In order to gain an insight into the electrophysiological cortical mechanisms of color discrimination and to compare the results with psychophysiological data summarized in the previous publications as the spherical model of color discrimination a problem was specified to identify color and brightness components of human evoked potentials. The experiments were carried out with alternating pairs of light flashes constituted of five colors (white and four main colors; red, blue, yellow, and green). Each of the light stimuli varied by seven brightness levels. Color and brightness components (N87 and P120, respectively) were reasonably reliably detected in all cases of substitution of stimuli with identical or different spectra. However, the latency and amplitude analysis of N87 and P120 components in these cases showed that N87 reflects not only color but also brightness information. It makes it possible to draw on the analogy between the N87 as one of the earliest components and N1 in primate cortical evoked potential and suggest that these components reflect the activity of cells receiving information directly from the lateral geniculate body. This process can be considered as the first stage of cortical analysis of chromatic and achromatic light characteristics. The brightness component P120, probably, represents the activity of cortical cells related to the analysis of nonchromatic stimuli characteristics, such as form, movement, orientation, etc. These characteristics are also based on luminance gradients and contrasts, however, in contrast to N87, these characteristics are not directly related with brightness of light.     

Refraction, aliasing, and the absence of motion reversals in peripheral vision

Reversals in perceived direction of motion of a grating when its spatial frequency exceeds half that of the sampling mosaic provide a potential tool for estimating sampling frequency in peripheral retina. We used two-alternative forced-choice tasks to measure performance of three observers detecting or discriminating direction of motion of high contrast horizontal or vertical sinusoidal luminance gratings presented either 20 or 40 deg from the fovea along the horizontal meridian. A foveal target at a comfortable viewing distance aided fixation and accommodation. A Maxwellian view optometer with 3 mm artificial pupil was used to correct the refraction of the peripheral grating, which was presented in a circular patch, 1.8 deg in diameter, in a surround of similar colour and mean luminance (47.5 cd.m-2). The refractive correction at each eccentricity was measured by recording the aerial image of a point after a double pass through the eye. The highest frequency which can reliably be detected (7-14 c/deg at 20 deg, 5.5-7.5 c/deg at 40 deg) depends critically on refraction. Refraction differs by up to 5 D from the fovea to periphery, and by up to 6 D from horizontal to vertical. Direction discrimination performance shows no consistent reversals, and depends less on refraction. It falls to chance at frequencies as low as one-third of the highest that can be detected. Gratings which can be detected but whose direction of motion cannot be discriminated appear as irregular speckle patterns whose direction of motion varies from trial to trial.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The effect of attentional spread on spatial resolution

The effects of attentional spread were studied by having subjects detect a luminance increment along a row of evenly spaced dots. The increment could occur for the central, fixated dot (Narrow Attention) or for either the fixation dot or one of the four dots to its left or right (Broad Attention). Narrow Attention enhanced the detection of luminance increments for the fixated dot, and also enhanced spatial resolution near the fixation dot for judgments of vernier alignment and separation. This indicated that the sensitivity of small spatial filters in the fovea was increased more by narrowly focused than broadly spread attention. Effects of attentional spread on spatial resolution were not obtained for judgments of the separation between two peripherally located targets, perhaps because of their dependence on eccentricity (position) rather than separation.     

Induction of ob gene expression by corticosteroids is accompanied by body weight loss and reduced food intake

Genetic studies in mice have identified the ob gene product as a potential signaling factor regulating body weight homeostasis and energy balance. It is suggested that modulation of ob gene expression results in changes in body weight and food intake. Glucocorticoids are shown to have important metabolic effects and to modulate food intake and body weight. In order to test the hypothesis that these metabolic effects of glucocorticoids are linked to changes in the expression of the ob gene, ob mRNA levels were evaluated in rats treated with different glucocorticosteroids at catabolic doses and correlated to the kinetics of changes in body weight gain and food intake. Results from time course experiments demonstrate that adipose tissue ob gene expression is rapidly induced by glucocorticosteroids. This induction is followed by a concordant decrease in body weight gain and food consumption. These data suggest that the catabolic effects of corticosteroids on body weight mass and food intake might be mediated by changes in ob expression. Modulation of ob expression may therefore constitute a mechanism through which hormonal, pharmacological, or other factors control body weight homeostasis.     

Anchoring of lightness values in center-surround displays.

Luminance ratios, by themselves, do not specify lightness values without an anchoring rule. The anchoring rule most often assumed for simple displays is that white is assigned to the highest luminance. It is proposed here that, for simple center–surround stimuli, the rule is based on geometry rather than photometry: White is assigned to the background, regardless of relative luminance values. Both a disk–annulus configuration and a disk–ganzfeld configuration were used to test the perceived lightness of centers and surrounds. In the disk–annulus case, assignment of white was based on a compromise between these 2 rules. For the disk–ganzfeld case, assignment of white seemed to be based entirely on the surround-as-white rule, and disks brighter than the ganzfeld background appeared luminous. It is argued that the disk–ganzfeld configuration, not the disk–annulus configuration, represents the minimal conditions for the appearance of surface lightness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)