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I Motoyoshi

Publications and source records attributed to I Motoyoshi.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Temporal resolution of orientation-based texture segregation.

We analysed the temporal-frequency characteristics of two functional processes involved in orientation-based texture segregation: local orientation coding and subsequent orientation-contrast coding. Two texture images, in which each micropattern was rotated by 90 degrees, were alternated at various temporal frequencies. A micropattern was a second-derivative (D2) of a Gaussian that loses orientation information when temporally fused with the orthogonal D2 pattern. We measured the upper temporal-frequency limits for localising the target region whose mean orientation differed from the background by 90 degrees or by 45 degrees. If the temporal limit of the texture perception is determined by the most sluggish processing stage, the temporal limit for the 90 degrees texture should be determined by local orientation coding or by orientation-contrast coding, depending on which stage has the lower temporal precision. On the other hand, the 45 degrees texture should always be segregated below the temporal limit of local orientation coding regardless of the temporal limit of orientation-contrast coding. We found that the temporal limit for the 90 degrees texture was slightly higher than that for the 45 degrees texture under spatial conditions appropriate for texture segregation. Moreover, an orientation-noise analysis of segregation performance for a wide range of temporal frequencies revealed that the temporal-frequency sensitivities for the two textures were nearly identical. These results imply that the temporal limit for orientation-based texture segregation depends only on that of local orientation coding. This conclusion further suggests that the potential temporal resolution of orientation-contrast coding is not lower than that of local orientation coding, which would imply that the orientation-contrast coding is unlikely to be mediated by sluggish neural processes.

Contrast Sensitivity↗

Light adaptation in motion direction judgments.

We examined the time course of light adaptation in the visual motion system. Subjects judged the direction of a two-frame apparent-motion display, with the two frames separated by a 50-ms interstimulus interval of the same mean luminance. The phase of the first frame was randomly determined on each trial. The grating presented in the second frame was phase shifted either leftward or rightward by pi/2 with respect to the grating in the first frame. At some variable point during the first frame, the mean luminance of the pattern increased or decreased by 1-3 log units. Mean luminance levels varied from scotopic or low mesopic to photopic levels. We found that the perceived direction of motion depended jointly on the luminance level of the first frame grating and the time at which the shift in average luminance occurs. When the average luminance increases from scotopic or mesopic to photopic levels at least 0.5 s before the offset of the first frame, motion in the 3pi/2 direction is perceived. When average luminance decreases to low mesopic or scotopic levels, motion in the pi/2 direction is perceived if the change occurs 1.0 s or more before first frame offset, depending on the size of the luminance step. Thus light adaptation in the visual motion system is essentially complete within 1 s. This suggests a rapid change in the shape (biphasic or monophasic) of the temporal impulse response functions that feed into a first-order motion mechanism.

Adaptation, Ocular↗

Visual response saturation to orientation contrast in the perception of texture boundary.

We analyzed how the visual response to orientation modulation in texture patterns varied as a function of the magnitude of orientation contrast. Using a contrast-discrimination technique, we measured threshold increments of orientation contrast (the orientation contrast required for discriminating between two textures) at various pedestal-orientation contrasts. The orientation-contrast-response function estimated for a step-orientation contrast, which produces a vivid percept of surface boundaries, saturated at approximately 30 degrees (experiment 1). The saturation was still evident even when the strength of the step-orientation contrast was reduced by orientation noise (experiment 2), but no strong saturation was found for textures that did not produce a vivid percept of surface boundaries (experiment 3). These results are consistent with the notion that orientation-based texture segregation involves the generation of a neural representation of the surface boundary whose strength is nearly independent of the magnitude of orientation contrast.

Contrast Sensitivity↗

Texture filling-in and texture segregation revealed by transient masking.

When a texture pattern was briefly presented followed by a small annular mask, it was found that the central area of the texture was strongly suppressed within the mask. Analogous to filling-in of brightness in a uniform luminance area (Paradiso, M. A. & Nakayama, K. (1991) Vision Research, 31, 1221-1236), this phenomenon demonstrates filling-in of texture; the texture area was unperceived because filling-in of the texture area was interrupted by the contour in the mask. However, odd local features within the texture, which were assumed to pop out, were selectively perceived while other features were suppressed within the mask. These results suggest that: (1) rapid pattern segregation occurs before and/or separately from texture filling-in, and that (2) filling-in is initiated at boundaries between surfaces rather than at luminance gradients.

Form Perception↗

Is the size aftereffect direction selective?

We investigated whether the size aftereffect (apparent spatial-frequency shift after adaptation to slightly different frequencies) is direction selective; i.e., whether it is stronger for test stimuli moving in the adapting direction than the opposite direction. We used drifting sinusoidal gratings of various spatiotemporal frequencies for both adaptation and test stimuli, and the perceived test frequency was estimated by means of a matching technique with a staircase method. For the purpose of comparison, the post-adaptation threshold elevation was measured in addition to the size aftereffect. The results revealed that the direction of stimuli had no influence on the magnitude of the size aftereffect for a wide range of spatiotemporal frequencies, whereas the post-adaptation threshold elevation showed clear direction selectivity. Although there was a significant direction selectivity for the size aftereffect at low spatial and high temporal frequencies, the selectivity was much weaker than that seen in the threshold elevation data. These findings are discussed in relation to the validity of a unified account of selective adaptation at and above threshold contrast and the notion of the separate processing of pattern and motion information.

Adaptation, Psychological↗