Document Detail


Imperceptibly rapid contrast modulations processed in cortex: Evidence from psychophysics.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20884596     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Rapid fluctuations in contrast are common in our modern visual environment. They arise, for example, in a room lit by a fluorescent light, when viewing a CRT computer monitor and when watching a movie in a cinema. As we are unconscious of the rapid changes, it has been assumed that they do not affect the operation of our visual systems. By periodically reversing the contrast of a fixed pattern at a rapid rate we render the pattern itself, as well as the modulations, invisible to observers. We show that exposure to these rapidly contrast-modulated patterns alters the way subsequent stationary patterns are processed; patterns similar to the contrast-modulated pattern require more contrast to be detected than dissimilar patterns. We present evidence that the changes are cortically mediated. Taken together, our findings suggest that cortical stages of the visual system respond to the individual frames of a contrast-reversed sequence, even at rates as high as 160 frames per second.
Authors:
Michael Falconbridge; Adam Ware; Donald I A MacLeod
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Comparative Study; Journal Article     Date:  2010-07-01
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of vision     Volume:  10     ISSN:  1534-7362     ISO Abbreviation:  J Vis     Publication Date:  2010  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-10-04     Completed Date:  2011-03-17     Revised Date:  2011-08-01    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101147197     Medline TA:  J Vis     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  21     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA. mickfalconbridge@hotmail.com
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Contrast Sensitivity / physiology*
Humans
Light
Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
Photic Stimulation / methods
Psychophysics / methods*
Sensory Thresholds / physiology*
Visual Cortex / physiology*
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
R01 EY001711-34/EY/NEI NIH HHS; R01 EY001711-35/EY/NEI NIH HHS

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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