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I E Holliday

Publications and source records attributed to I E Holliday.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

The coding of spatial position by the human visual system: effects of spatial scale and contrast.

In this study we investigate the nature of the computations that underlie the encoding of spatial position by the human visual system. Specifically, we explore the relationship between alignment accuracy and spatial scale on the one hand, and between alignment accuracy and contrast on the other. We do this for stimuli where local luminance, local contrast, and orientation cues do not underlie performance. The results suggest that spatial localisation is independent of spatial scale and weakly dependent on contrast. We present subsequent models based on the properties of some classes of visual cortical neurones, namely multiplicative noise and contrast energy detection of complex cells, which describe the form of these relationships.

Contrast Sensitivity↗
PubMed1992

The spatial localization deficit in amblyopia.

There have now been numerous reports of a spatial localization deficit in amblyopia but none so far have tackled (1) the relationship between the contrast sensitivity and spatial localization deficits and (2) whether the spatial localization deficit is best described in units of visual angle or in terms of the underlying filter size. These issues are germane because they lie at the very heart of our understanding of the underlying deficit in amblyopia. To answer these questions we use spatially bandpass stimuli so that we can readily compare detection and localization for the same stimuli at each of a number of spatial scales. For some amblyopes (all strabismics and a minority of anisometropes) the contrast sensitivity defect neither underlies nor covaries with the spatial localization deficit. In the majority of anisometropic amblyopes, the contrast sensitivity loss is a complete description. The spatial localization deficit in amblyopia is of two independent kinds; positional inaccuracy and positional distortion. The positional inaccuracy deficit which can occur in varying degrees in both strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia, affects all spatial scales equally and therefore is best thought of in terms of a constant fraction of the underlying filter size in the space-frequency plane. The positional distortion deficit which can also occur to varying degrees in both strabismic and anisometropic forms can not be easily understood within this metric at least for strabismics.

Amblyopia↗
PubMed1991

Serial search for targets defined by divergence or deformation of optic flow.

The optic flow field can be described in terms of the local differential measures, divergence, deformation, and rotation, which are informative about observer motion and the 3-D structure of the environment. Does an explicit representation of these measures exist in human visual processing in the form of a feature map? Triesman's criteria were used to investigate this; ie is there 'pop-out' for a target defined as different in local divergence or deformation from surrounding elements, or is a serial search necessary? The stimulus arrays contained 3, 5, or 9 square or rectangular elements, which each underwent repeated cycles of expansion, contraction, or deformation. The time required to detect a target undergoing the opposite transformation increased steeply with the number of elements, implying very slow serial search. (The mean time was 210 ms per element for divergence targets and 542 ms per element for deformation). The process was clearly still serial when the density and number of elements was increased up to 48 in an array 2.16 deg x 2.16 deg. In contrast, a single line element undergoing the opposite direction of translation motion to the rest of the display did show pop-out. It is concluded that no parallel processes seem to exist which are sensitive to the spatial uniformity of divergence and of deformation of optic flow. These differential properties may be derived as conjunctions of signals from a primary process which extracts local velocity. This result contrasts with our findings for targets defined by stereo disparity gradient, which show parallel processing in analogous experiments.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Pre-attentive detection of a target defined by stereoscopic slant.

Does the visual system represent stereoscopic depth purely as a map of local disparities, or does it explicitly represent local relationships of disparity, such as disparity gradients? Experiments are reported in which visual search for a target containing the same disparity range as other elements in the display, but differing in the relationship of the disparities (stereo slant), was used to determine whether the target showed 'pop-out' like a unitary feature, or the serial search characteristic of feature conjunctions. Each stereo pair of elements was selected randomly from a range of outline parallelograms leaning to the right or to the left, so that the target could not be identified using any monocular shape cue. Response times for detection of the target (present on 50% of the trials) were independent of the number of elements in the display. This result was confirmed by varying element size and spacing, and by using oblique crosses rather than parallelograms as stimuli. It is concluded that stereoscopically defined slant, or disparity gradient, can be processed and compared in parallel across the display, and acts in this respect as an explicit unitary visual property. This contrasts with findings in analogous experiments on movement, which show that targets defined by divergence or deformation of optic flow can only be identified by serial search.

Attention↗
PubMed1986

The contribution of blue-sensitive cones to spatial responses of post-receptoral visual channels in man.

Psychophysical methods developed for the investigation of spatial and temporal pathways in human vision have been applied in combination with the two-colour increment threshold technique of W. S. Stiles to study the way in which signals from blue-sensitive cones are transmitted along the visual pathways. A flicker sensitive spatio-temporal filter, designated 'ST2', has been examined by background modulation methods, and spatial filters sensitive to bars of a specific width by grating adaptation methods employing dichoptic presentation of stimuli. It is shown that the blue-sensitive (pi 3) spectral mechanism contributes to both classes of filter response, in a manner similar to that observed for the red-sensitive spectral mechanism. The binocularly driven, bar-sensitive filters have broad-band spectral response characteristics, thus the data demonstrate that signals arising in blue-sensitive cones converge onto a luminance channel. The results of this investigation, together with those previously published for a second (ST1) spatio-temporal filter, describe a variety of post-receptoral responses involving the pi 3 spectral mechanism.

Color Perception↗
PubMed1985

Rapid fading of visual sensations in a subject with a parietal-occipital tumour.

We present psychophysical data measured for a single subject, who had a tumour in the left parieto-occipital region, located by CT scan and post-mortem study. Her vision was characterised by rapid fading during voluntary fixation of images located in the right hemifield. We describe a number of simple tests which we developed in order to study this phenomenon. The results of these tests established that significant loss of function occurs within 1 s of fixation and that the effects associated with fixation are spatially localised. We compare our subject's response characteristics with those observed in other cases of visual disturbance and we examine the possible underlying mechanisms which give rise to the rapid fading of her visual images.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Two spatio-temporal filters in human vision. 1. Temporal and spatial frequency response characteristics.

We have studied visual detection of a circular target moving across a spatially and/or temporally modulated background. Illumination, It, for threshold detection of the target has been measured as a function of background modulation frequency and changes in It associated with background modulation provide a means of determining the frequency response characteristics of visual channels. Temporal frequency responses obtained with temporally modulated, spatially uniform backgrounds have pass-band characteristics and the temporal frequency for peak response increases with increase in mean background illumination. These temporal frequency responses resemble those of the de Lange (1954) filter, but the latter incorporates the incremental thresholds for steady backgrounds. The amplitude of this temporal response saturates at low (approximately 40%) background modulation, decreases to zero as the target velocity falls to zero, and is maximum for a circular target of diameter 2 degrees. The spatial characteristics of this temporal filter were measured with a background field consisting of alternate steady and flickering bars. The resulting spatial frequency curve peaks at 1 cycle deg-1 for all background illuminations and is independent of the background grating orientation. This spatial response differs significantly from the IMG spatial functions observed with a background grating (Barbur and Ruddock, 1980). The spatial and temporal responses reviewed above exhibit similar parametric variations and we therefore associate them with a single spatio-temporal filter, ST2. A second temporal response, with low-pass frequency characteristics, was observed with a background field consisting of two matched gratings, presented in spatial and temporal antiphase. This response has parametric properties similar to those of the IMG spatial response described previously by Barbur and Ruddock (1980), thus we associated the two sets of data with a single spatio-temporal filter, ST1. We show that the ST2 responses can be obtained by combining ST1 responses, and we present a network incorporating the two filters. We review other psychophysical studies which imply the activity of two spatio-temporal filters with properties of the kind revealed in our studies. We argue that filter ST1 has properties equivalent to those of X-type and filter ST2 has properties equivalent to those of Y-type electrophysiological mechanisms.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Two spatio-temporal filters in human vision. 2. Selective modification in amblyopia, albinism, and hemianopia.

We have used the psychophysical methods described in the first paper of this series (Holliday and Ruddock, 1983) to determine selected spatial and temporal response characteristics of the ST1 and ST2 filters for subjects suffering visual defects. Data are given for 19 amblyopes, an albino and a hemianope, and comparison data are also given for a number of subjects with normal vision. The ST1 spatial responses for both the "normal" and "amblyopic" eyes of 12 convergent strabismic amblyopes are displaced to low spatial frequencies compared to the normal curve, which implies that there is a loss of fine spatial tuning. In all but one subject, the curve for the "amblyopic" eye peaks at a spatial frequency lower than that for the "normal" eye, thus the former deviates further from the normal pattern than the latter. The ST1 spatial responses of 6 refractive amblyopes are also displaced to the low frequency side of the normal curve, although on average the shift is smaller than in the case of the strabismic amblyopes. For each subject, the response curve of the "amblyopic" eye peaks at a lower spatial frequency than does that for the "normal" eye. ST1 spatial responses were measured for targets located up to 30 degrees off-axis along the horizontal meridian and sample data are given for one strabismic and one refractive amblyope and for two normal subjects. It is concluded from these data that the changes in the spatial responses associated with amblyopia do not simply reflect eccentric fixation of the target. The ST2 spatial response was measured for the "normal" and "amblyopic" eyes of 9 amblyopes (7 strabismic and 2 refractive). There is no significant difference between the average amblyopic response and that of normal subjects, and only in one case does the response for an "amblyopic" eye peak at a frequency lower than the peak frequency for normal vision. The ST2 temporal response for 9 amblyopes shows no systematic deviations from the normal response. For the albino, both the ST1 and ST2 spatial responses peak at around 0.3 cycles deg-1, and both curves are displaced considerably to the low spatial frequency side of the normal ST2 spatial response. The albino's ST2 temporal response is essentially normal. Measurements for the hemianope's "blind" hemifield under conditions appropriate to the isolation of the ST1 and ST2 spatial responses reveal no tuning curves. The ST2 temporal response for the "blind" hemifield, however, is of large amplitude, with a peak at 2 Hz, well below the normal frequency response peak. It is argued that the loss of fine spatial tuning which occurs in the ST1, but not the ST2, spatial responses of the amblyopes is consistent with the sequential organisation of these two filter classes proposed by Holliday and Ruddock (1983). Further, for the only two subjects whose ST2 spatial response curves are displaced to abnormally low frequencies (the albino and a strabismic amblyope) the ST1 spatial response is shifted to low spatial frequencies compared to the normal ST2 curve...

Albinism↗
PubMed1981

A new class of visual defect. Spreading inhibition elicited by chromatic light stimuli.

This paper deals with a single male subject, M., who has a well-defined visual defect of a kind not previously described. The defect is associated with a potent inhibitory response to long-wavelength stimuli, which spreads for up to 12 deg from the area of stimulation, suppressing M.'s detection of other high contrast stimuli. The effect can also be observed, weakly, with certain other coloured stimuli, but not with yellows or whites. Detailed psychophysical data are given for threshold sensitivity, colour matching, two-colour increment thresholds and visual acuity, all of which are more or less abnormal, depending on the stimulus colour. No abnormal effects were, however, observed with white light stimuli. On the basis of M.'s ability to fuse red and green random dot stereogram pairs, we argue that the inhibition arises centrally in the visual pathways. and we examine the implications of M.'s response characteristics for the analysis of central visual processing.

Adult↗