Storage of spatially specific threshold elevation.

P G Thompson; J A Movshon

doi:10.1068/p070065

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Storage of spatially specific threshold elevation.

P G Thompson·J A Movshon

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Abstract

The decay of several visual aftereffects may be prolonged by interposing a period of light-free or pattern-free viewing between adaptation and testing. We demonstrate that this storage phenomenon can be observed using the threshold elevation aftereffect that follows inspection of a high-contrast grating pattern. Control experiments comparing thresholds for vertical and horizontal gratings after adaptation to a vertical grating reveal that the stored aftereffect, like its unstored counterpart, is pattern-selective. Storage is equally pronounced with stimuli that are detected by pattern-analyzing or movement-analyzing visual channels. Unlike other aftereffects, the threshold-elevation aftereffect requires that the storage period be light-free; no storage is seen if a blank field is inspected between adaptation and testing. The results are discussed with respect to the nature of visual aftereffects, and possible cognitive or physiological models of storage.

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P G Thompson, J A Movshon. 1978. Storage of spatially specific threshold elevation.. https://doi.org/10.1068/p070065

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