Biomedical subjects

Hans Strasburger

Publications and source records attributed to Hans Strasburger.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Increasing the temporal g(r)ain: double-pulse resolution is affected by the size of the attention focus.

Spatial cueing of transient attention has recently been shown to reduce temporal sensitivity. We investigated how the size of the sustained attentional focus influences double-pulse resolution (DPR) thresholds mapped across the visual field in a sample of 95 healthy subjects using a 9-fold interleaved adaptive algorithm (YAAP). Peripheral DPR thresholds increased for measurements between 2.5 degrees and 20 degrees eccentricity. Additionally, central DPR thresholds increased at a similar rate when measured with increasingly larger stimulus displays for peripheral measurements. This latter effect suggests that temporal resolution decreases with a larger sustained attention focus and cannot be explained by retinal characteristics only.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Unfocused spatial attention underlies the crowding effect in indirect form vision.

We studied mechanisms underlying the crowding effect in indirect form vision by measuring recognition contrast sensitivity of a character with flankers to the left and right. Attentional and featural contributions to the effect can be separated by a new paradigm that distinguishes pattern location errors from pattern recognition errors and further by manipulating the focusing of spatial attention through a positional cue, appearing 150 ms before the target. Measurements were on the horizontal meridian, at 1, 2, and 4 deg eccentricity, and a range of flankers' distances were used. Our results show that in normal indirect viewing, the impairment of character recognition by crowding is--in particular at intermediate flanker distances--caused to a large part by spatially imprecise focusing of attention. In contrast, the enhancement of performance by a transient positional cue seems mediated through a separate attentional mechanism such that attentional locus and focus are controlled independently. Our results furthermore lend psychophysical support to a separate coding of the what and where in pattern recognition.

Attention↗

PubMed2005

Temporal image fusion in human vision.

We studied temporal integration by presenting sequences of orthogonal high-contrast sinusoidal gratings. In rapid alternation (38 Hz) gratings appear fused whereas at lower rates they appear segregated. To test whether afterimages are the source of the fused and segregated appearance, we probed the decay characteristics of a vertical grating's afterimage by flashing an otherwise identical horizontal grating at varying times after the grating's offset. The results show a rapid decay function for a negative afterimage with a 50-ms time constant, much shorter than expected from other paradigms. From dichoptic presentations we conclude that the site of the interaction is before that of binocular integration.

Afterimage↗

PubMed2005

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in the visual system. I. The psychophysics of visual suppression.

When applied over the occipital pole, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) disrupts visual perception and induces phosphenes. Both the underlying mechanisms and the brain structures involved are still unclear. The first part of the study characterizes the suppressive effect of TMS by psychophysical methods. Luminance increment thresholds for orientation discrimination were determined in four subjects using an adaptive staircase procedure. Coil position was controlled with a stereotactic positioning device. Threshold values were modulated by TMS, reaching a maximum effect at a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of approx. 100 ms after visual target presentation. Stronger TMS pulses increased the maximum threshold while decreasing the SOA producing the maximum effect. Slopes of the psychometric function were flattened with TMS masking by a factor of 2, compared to control experiments in the absence of TMS. No change in steepness was observed in experiments using a light flash as the mask instead of TMS. Together with the finding that at higher TMS intensities, threshold elevation occurs even with shorter SOAs, this suggests lasting inhibitory processes as masking mechanisms, contradicting the assumption that the phosphene as excitatory equivalent causes masking. In the companion contribution to this one we present perimetric measurements and phosphene forms as a function of the stimulation site in the brain and discuss the putative generator structures.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Visual perception in space and time--mapping the visual field of temporal resolution.

To characterize temporal aspects of information processing in the human visual field, we studied the topographical distribution of temporal and non-temporal performance parameters in 95 normally sighted subjects. Visual field maps of double-pulse resolution thresholds (DPR) (the minimum detectable temporal gap between two light stimuli) and simple visual reaction times (RT) (measuring the speed of reaction to a light stimulus) were compared to maps of luminance thresholds determined by standard perimetry. Thus, for the first time, the topography of a visual variable without temporal constraints (perimetry) could be compared to visual variables in the temporal domain, with (RT) and without (DPR) motor reaction. The goal of the study was to obtain and to describe the pattern of co-variation of performance indicators. In all three measures, performance was best in the central visual field and dropped significantly towards the periphery. Although the correlation between DPR and RT was significant, shared variance was low, and we observed large topographical differences between these two temporal-performance variables. In contrast, DPR and perimetric thresholds correlated more substantially, and visual field maps were similar. The Gestalt of DPR maps shares characteristics of basic visual processing (e.g., light sensitivity), but it also reflects top-down influences, i.e., from spatial attention. Although the correlation between DPR and RT suggests common characteristics between these two temporal variables, the topographic distributions reveal significant differences, indicating separate underlying processing mechanisms.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Neglect and hemianopia superimposed.

In patients with posterior-parietal brain damage it is often difficult to decide whether left-sided omissions in perimetry are due to primary visual loss or due to visual neglect. We investigated 11 patients with combined neglect/hemianopia and 11 patients with pure hemianopia using a visual search task with single or double stimulation conditions. The second stimulus was either the fixation point itself (like in perimetry) or a distractor appearing in the hemifield opposite to the target. The fixation point did not worsen left-sided perception, but its disappearance led to a bias of exploration towards the right side in neglect patients but not in pure hemianopics. A distractor in the intact hemifield worsened the performance to left-sided stimuli, that is, neglect patients behaved as if they were completely hemianopic, even in intact parts of the visual field (VF). Three of the neglect patients showed unconscious processing of the distractor in the left VF, suggesting that the visual field defect was produced by neglect mechanisms rather than primary visual loss. This visual search paradigm appears to be helpful in understanding of the nature of hemianopia versus neglect deficits in individual patients.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Acute moderate alcohol consumption affects cardiovascular responses in healthy males with different tolerance levels.

We investigated the effect of acute moderate alcohol consumption or placebo on respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in 48 healthy participants with different levels of alcohol tolerance but no abuse. In the electrocardiogram recording, auditory stimuli were presented at defined points in the respiratory cycle, which allows a non-invasive measure of CNS control over RSA. After alcohol consumption we found a decrease in RSA with auditory stimulation. Moreover, individuals with low tolerance showed only a slight change in the RSA after alcohol intake compared to baseline, whereas the placebo drink led to a reduced RSA. In subjects with high alcohol tolerance, alcohol consumption led to a reduction of RSA, with no change after placebo. These results suggest a centrally driven influence on RSA that is changed by alcohol ingestion depending upon subjects' levels of alcohol tolerance.

Acoustic Stimulation↗