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Arne Valberg

Publications and source records attributed to Arne Valberg.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Surround-induced foveal afterimage pulsation: evidence for a long-range neural effect.

We demonstrate that an afterimage resulting from a strong foveal light flash can be made to pulsate by luminance modulation of a surrounding annulus as far as 8 deg away. Afterimage pulsation persists even if all artifacts due to pupil size, stray light and simultaneous contrast are ruled out. This suggests an origin by a long-range neural process acting from the remote surround. The effect is interpreted in terms of an adaptive gain control optimizing the responses of visual cells.

Adult↗

Flicker VEPs reflecting multiple rod and cone pathways.

In an attempt to determine whether the relative contributions of magno-mediated and parvo-mediated inputs to the cortex are significantly altered in the transition from cone to rod vision, VEPs were recorded at different luminance levels (photopic to scotopic) for 2Hz square-wave, isochromatic flicker. The VEP mass response appears capable of reflecting major parvo-mediated contributions even at luminance levels for which responses from individual cells in the parvocellular pathway are reported to be weak. Our findings suggest that parvo-mediated responses are the dominant source of high-contrast isochromatic flicker VEPs at all light levels.

Adolescent↗

Binocular contrast inhibition in subjects with age-related macular degeneration.

In subjects with normal vision, binocular contrast sensitivity is generally higher than monocular sensitivity, indicating summation of contrast in the two eyes. We have compared monocular and binocular contrast sensitivity and acuity for a group of 13 subjects with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Relative to a normal control group, many of the AMD subjects showed reduced binocular contrast summation, and binocular inhibition was found for eight subjects for a narrow or an extended frequency band. A better monocular than binocular function may have practical implications for reading and orientation in AMD.

Adult↗

Visual evoked potentials for red-green gratings reversing at different temporal frequencies: asymmetries with respect to isoluminance.

Human visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded for abrupt reversals of 2 cycles/deg (c/deg) square-wave gratings combining high red-green contrast with different levels of luminance contrast. Response characteristics--2nd harmonic amplitudes and peak latencies as a function of luminance contrast--were compared for four different reversal rates ranging from 6.25 Hz to 12.5 Hz. At every reversal frequency, the VEP amplitude and latency plots were nonsymmetrical with respect to isoluminance. The amplitude dropped to a minimum within a region of rapid phase change, always at a red-green luminance contrast for which the green color had the higher luminance, at about 40% or 50% Michelson luminance contrast. The rapid phase shift around this contrast suggested a sudden change in the relative impact of VEP generators with different latencies, possibly dominated by parvocellular or magnocellular input. The most prominent VEP waveform through most of the luminance contrast range, P110, is interpreted in terms of a parvo-mediated response that is attenuated with increasing reversal frequency. Contrast-dependent changes in the P110 amplitude appear to be responsible for the VEP asymmetries reported here.

Adult↗