Brightness of uniform fields during normal and stabilized viewing was determined as a function of adapting luminance, field size, and luminance gradient of the edges of the adapting field. In one set of experiments, it was found that, over a range of adapting luminances from 6 to 9600 td, a uniformly-illuminated 7.5 deg hemifield appeared about 1 log unit brighter in normal viewing than when it was retinally-stabilized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe addition of a uniform increment of luminance (L) to a faded retinally-stabilized target results in the subjective reappearance of the image with contrast opposite to that of the target. This phenomenon, called apparent phase reversal (APR), reveals a nonlinear gain mechanism in the adaptation process. The magnitude of the threshold increment to elicit APR (Lapr) is a measure of the state of stabilized adaptation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpatiotemporal contrast sensitivity at three orientations, vertical, horizontal and oblique, was studied in 18 patients with clinically definite and laboratory-confirmed definite multiple sclerosis (MS). Nineteen age-matched control subjects were also studied under identical experimental conditions. Contrast thresholds for detecting steady and counterphase modulated (5 Hz) gratings ranging in spatial frequency from 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFading time of a retinally-stabilized difference-of-Gaussian (DOG) stimulus depends on the background luminance, contrast and spatial frequency content of the stimulus. A model of the visual system including a nonlinear multiplicative, non-local and fast process followed by a linear subtractive, local and slower process accounts for these effects. Analysis of the fading time data allows us to estimate the spatiotemporal characteristics of the proposed adaptation processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe addition of a uniform increment of light to a high-contrast image that has been stabilized on the retina reveals marked perceptual nonlinearities. When the increment is small, the pattern appears in its original phase (OP), large increments produce an apparent phase reversal (APR), and intermediate increments may yield an apparently blank field or an oscillation of the apparent phase. In the present series of studies the threshold values used to produce a stable OP and APR were determined as a function of adaptation time before the application of the increment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF