Orientation Channels in the Peripheral Visual Field

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 362-362
Author(s):  
R J Snowden

Peripheral vision has been modelled as a coarser version of foveal vision. Thus visual behaviour elicited by, say, a 2 cycles deg−1 grating imaged foveally would be reproduced in the periphery by a lower spatial frequency (say 1 cycle deg−1). Tuning for orientation is broader at a low than high spatial frequency (Snowden, 1992 Vision Research32 1965 – 1974). Taken together this leads to the surprising prediction that, given a particular spatial frequency, tuning for orientation is narrower for peripheral viewing! In this study it has also been found that orientation tuning broadens with increasing temporal frequency, but the opposite relationship has been reported for peripheral vision (Sharpe and Tolhurst, 1973 Vision Research13 2103 – 2112). Orientation bandwidths were measured by the method of selective adaptation following the procedures and analysis techniques described by Snowden (1991 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B246 53 – 59). The results show that orientation bandwidths did indeed narrow as a stimulus was imaged more peripherally, so that its bandwidth in the peripheral retina could be half that of the fovea. However, at a greater eccentricity, bandwidths broadened once more. The results were not influenced by the contrast of the adaptation pattern eliminating visibility as a possible explanation. Increasing temporal frequency broadened orientation bandwidth at all eccentricities.

1989 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 544-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Casanova ◽  
R. D. Freeman ◽  
J. P. Nordmann

1. We have studied response properties of single cells in the striate-recipient zone of the cat's lateral posterior-pulvinar (LP-P) complex. This zone is in the lateral section of the lateral posterior nucleus (LP1). Our purpose was to determine basic response characteristics of these cells and to investigate the possibility that the LP-P complex is a center of integration that is dominated by input from visual cortex. 2. The majority (72%) of cells in the striate-recipient zone respond to drifting sinusoidal gratings with unmodulated discharge. 3. Cells in the LP1 are selective to the orientation of gratings, and tuning functions have a mean bandwidth of 31 degrees. More than one-half of these units are direction-selective. The preferred orientation and the tuning widths for the two eyes are generally well matched. However, a few cells exhibited the interesting property of opposite preferred directions for the two eyes. Orientation tuning for a small group of cells was different for the mean discharge and first harmonic components, suggesting a convergence from different inputs to these cells. 4. Two-thirds of LP1 cells are tuned to low spatial frequencies (less than 0.5 c/deg). The tuning is broad with a mean bandwidth of 2.2 octaves. The remaining one-third of the units are low-pass because they show no attenuation of their responses to low spatial frequencies. Both eyes exhibit the same spatial frequency preference and the same spatial frequency tuning. There is a high correlation between spatial frequency and orientation selectivities. 5. All cells tested are tuned for temporal frequency with a sharp attenuation for low frequencies. The optimal values range between 4 and 8 Hz, and the mean bandwidth is 2.2 octaves. 6. Cells in LP1 are mostly binocular. When monocular, cells are almost always contralaterally driven. Dichoptic presentation of gratings reveals the presence of strong binocular interaction. In almost all cases, these interactions are phase specific. The cell's discharge is facilitated at particular phases and inhibited at phases 180 degrees away. These binocular interactions are orientation dependent. 7. Twenty-five percent of the cells with phase-specific binocular facilitation appear to be monocular when each eye is tested separately. For three cells, we observed a non-phase-specific inhibitory effect of the silent eye. 8. Our findings indicate that LP1 cells form a relatively homogeneous group, suggesting a high degree of integration of multiple cortical inputs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 593-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Saul ◽  
M. S. Cynader

AbstractCat striate cortical neurons were investigated using a new method of studying adaptation aftereffects. Stimuli were sinusoidal gratings of variable contrast, spatial frequency, and drift direction and rate. A series of alternating adapting and test trials was presented while recording from single units. Control trials were completely integrated with the adapted trials in these experiments.Every cortical cell tested showed selective adaptation aftereffects. Adapting at suprathreshold contrasts invariably reduced contrast sensitivity. Significant aftereffects could be observed even when adapting at low contrasts.The spatial-frequency tuning of aftereffects varied from cell to cell. Adapting at a given spatial frequency generally resulted in a broad response reduction at test frequencies above and below the adapting frequency. Many cells lost responses predominantly at frequencies lower than the adapting frequency.The tuning of aftereffects varied with the adapting frequency. In particular, the strongest aftereffects occurred near the adapting frequency. Adapting at frequencies just above the optimum for a cell often altered the spatial-frequency tuning by shifting the peak toward lower frequencies. The fact that the tuning of aftereffects did not simply match the tuning of the cell, but depended on the adapting stimulus, implies that extrinsic mechanisms are involved in adaptation effects.


1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
CONG YU ◽  
DENNIS M. LEVI

A psychophysical analog to cortical receptive-field end-stopping has been demonstrated previously in spatial filters tuned to a wide range of spatial frequencies (Yu & Levi, 1997a). The current study investigated tuning characteristics in psychophysical spatial filter end-stopping. When a D6 (the sixth derivative of a Gaussian) target is masked by a center mask (placed in the putative spatial filter center), two end-zone masks (placed in the filter end-zones) reduce thresholds. This “end-stopping” effect (the reduction of masking induced by end-zone masks) was measured at various spatial frequencies and orientations of end-zone masks. End-stopping reached its maximal strength when the spatial frequency and/or orientation of the end-zone masks matched the spatial frequency and/or orientation of the target and center mask, showing spatial-frequency tuning and orientation tuning. The bandwidths of spatial-frequency and orientation tuning functions decreased with increasing target spatial frequency. At larger orientation differences, however, end-zone masks induced a secondary facilitation effect, which was maximal when the spatial frequency of end-zone masks equated the target spatial frequency. This facilitation effect might be related to certain types of contour and texture perception, such as perceptual pop-out.


Perception ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 25 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 12-12
Author(s):  
P J Bex ◽  
F A J Verstraten ◽  
I Mareschal

The motion aftereffect (MAE) was used to study the temporal-frequency and spatial-frequency selectivity of the visual system at suprathreshold contrasts. Observers adapted to drifting sine-wave gratings of a range of spatial and temporal frequencies. The magnitude of the MAE induced by the adaptation was measured with counterphasing test gratings of a variety of spatial and temporal frequencies. Independently of the spatial or temporal frequency of the adapting grating, the largest MAE was found with slowly counterphasing test gratings (∼0.125 – 0.25 Hz). For slowly counterphasing test gratings (<∼2 Hz), the largest MAEs were found when the test grating was of similar spatial frequency to that of the adapting grating, even at very low spatial frequencies (0.125 cycle deg−1). However, such narrow spatial frequency tuning was lost when the temporal frequency of the test grating was increased. The data suggest that MAEs are dominated by a single, low-pass temporal-frequency mechanism and by a series of band-pass spatial-frequency mechanisms at low temporal frequencies. At higher test temporal frequencies, the loss of spatial-frequency tuning implicates separate mechanisms with broader spatial frequency tuning.


Author(s):  
Peter Cawley

Abstract Permanently installed SHM systems are now a viable alternative to traditional periodic inspection (NDT). However, their industrial use is limited and this paper reviews the steps required in developing practical SHM systems. The transducers used in SHM are fixed in location, whereas in NDT they are generally scanned. The aim is to reach similar performance with high temporal frequency, low spatial frequency SHM data to that achievable with conventional high spatial frequency, low temporal frequency NDT inspections. It is shown that this can be done via change tracking algorithms such as the Generalized Likelihood Ratio (GLR) but this depends on the input data being normally distributed, which can only be achieved if signal changes due to variations in the operating conditions are satisfactorily compensated; there has been much recent progress on this topic and this is reviewed. Since SHM systems can generate large volumes of data, it is essential to convert the data to actionable information, and this step must be addressed in SHM system design. It is also essential to validate the performance of installed SHM systems, and a methodology analogous to the model assisted POD (MAPOD) scheme used in NDT has been proposed. This uses measurements obtained from the SHM system installed on a typical undamaged structure to capture signal changes due to environmental and other effects, and to superpose the signal due to damage growth obtained from finite element predictions. There is a substantial research agenda to support the wider adoption of SHM and this is discussed.


Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 48-48
Author(s):  
B Wink ◽  
J P Harris

It has been suggested that the Parkinsonian visual system is like the normal visual system, but is inappropriately dark-adapted (Beaumont et al, 1987 Clinical Vision Sciences2 123 – 129). Thus it is of interest to ask to what extent dark adaptation of normal subjects produces visual changes like those of Parkinson's disease (PD). One such change is the reduction in apparent contrast of medium and high spatial frequencies in peripheral vision in the illness (Harris et al, 1992 Brain115 1447 – 1457). Normal subjects judged whether the contrast of a peripherally viewed grating was higher or lower than that of a foveally viewed grating, and a staircase technique was used to estimate the point of subjective equality. Judgements were made at four spatial frequencies (0.5 to 4.0 cycles deg−1) and four contrasts (8.0% to 64%). The display, the mean luminance of which was 26 cd m−2, was viewed through a 1.5 lu nd filter in the relatively dark-adapted condition. The ANOVA showed an interaction between dark adaptation and the spatial frequency of the gratings. Dark adaptation reduces the apparent contrast of high-spatial-frequency gratings, an effect which is greater at lower contrasts. This mimics the effect found with PD sufferers, and suggests that dark adaptation may provide a useful model of the PD visual system. In a second experiment, the effect of dark adaptation on the relationship between apparent spatial frequency in the fovea and periphery was investigated. The experiment was similar to the first, except that judgements were made about the apparent spatial frequency, rather than the contrast, of the peripheral grating. ANOVA showed no differential effect of dark adaptation on the apparent spatial frequency of the peripheral grating. This suggests that the observed reduction in apparent contrast of the peripheral gratings in dark-adapted normals and Parkinson's sufferers may reflect relative changes in contrast gain, rather than relative changes in the spatial organisation of receptive fields.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (42) ◽  
pp. 10125-10138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirstie J. Salinas ◽  
Dario X. Figueroa Velez ◽  
Jack H. Zeitoun ◽  
Hyungtae Kim ◽  
Sunil P. Gandhi

2004 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 2797-2808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry J. Alitto ◽  
W. Martin Usrey

Neurons in primary visual cortex are highly sensitive to the contrast, orientation, and temporal frequency of a visual stimulus. These three stimulus properties can be varied independently of one another, raising the question of how they interact to influence neuronal responses. We recorded from individual neurons in ferret primary visual cortex to determine the influence of stimulus contrast on orientation tuning, temporal-frequency tuning, and latency to visual response. Results show that orientation-tuning bandwidth is not affected by contrast level. Thus neurons in ferret visual cortex display contrast-invariant orientation tuning. Stimulus contrast does, however, influence the structure of orientation-tuning curves as measures of circular variance vary inversely with contrast for both simple and complex cells. This change in circular variance depends, in part, on a contrast-dependent change in the ratio of null to preferred orientation responses. Stimulus contrast also has an influence on the temporal-frequency tuning of cortical neurons. Both simple and complex cells display a contrast-dependent rightward shift in their temporal frequency-tuning curves that results in an increase in the highest temporal frequency needed to produce a half-maximum response (TF50). Results show that the degree of the contrast-dependent increase in TF50 is similar for cortical neurons and neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and indicate that subcortical mechanisms likely play a major role in establishing the degree of effect displayed by downstream neurons. Finally, results show that LGN and cortical neurons experience a contrast-dependent phase advance in their visual response. This phase advance is most pronounced for cortical neurons indicating a role for both subcortical and cortical mechanisms.


2001 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 1512-1521 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.S.C. Price ◽  
M. R. Ibbotson

The visual response properties of nondirectional wide-field sensitive neurons in the wallaby pretectum are described. These neurons are called scintillation detectors (SD-neurons) because they respond vigorously to rapid, high contrast visual changes in any part of their receptive fields. SD-neurons are most densely located within a 1- to 2-mm radius from the nucleus of the optic tract, interspersed with direction-selective retinal slip cells. Receptive fields are monocular and cover large areas of the contralateral visual field (30–120°). Response sizes are equal for motion in all directions, and spontaneous activities are similar for all orientations of static sine-wave gratings. Response magnitude increases near linearly with increasing stimulus diameter and contrast. The mean response latency for wide-field, high-contrast motion stimulation was 43.4 ± 9.4 ms (mean ± SD, n = 28). The optimum visual stimuli for SD-neurons are wide-field, low spatial frequency (<0.2 cpd) scenes moving at high velocities (75–500°/s). These properties match the visual input during saccades, indicating optimal sensitivity to rapid eye movements. Cells respond to brightness increments and decrements, suggesting inputs from on and off channels. Stimulation with high-speed, low spatial frequency gratings produces oscillatory responses at the input temporal frequency. Conversely, high spatial frequency gratings give oscillations predominantly at the second harmonic of the temporal frequency. Contrast reversing sine-wave gratings elicit transient, phase-independent responses. These responses match the properties of Y retinal ganglion cells, suggesting that they provide inputs to SD-neurons. We discuss the possible role of SD-neurons in suppressing ocular following during saccades and in the blink or saccade-locked modulation of lateral geniculate nucleus activity to control retino-cortical information flow.


1990 ◽  
Vol 5 (04) ◽  
pp. 321-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Schiller ◽  
Nikos K. Logothetis ◽  
Eliot R. Charles

AbstractThe functions of the primate color-opponent and broad-band channels were assessed by examining the visual capacities of rhesus monkeys following selective lesions of parvocellular and magnocellular lateral geniculate nucleus, which respectively relay these two channels to the cortex. Parvocellular lesions impaired color vision, high spatial-frequency form vision, and fine stereopsis. Magnocellular lesions impaired high temporal- frequency flicker and motion perception but produced no deficits in stereopsis. Low spatial-frequency form vision, stereopsis, and brightness perception were unaffected by either lesion. Much as the rods and cones of the retina can be thought of as extending the range of vision in the intensity domain, we propose that the color-opponent channel extends visual capacities in the wavelength and spatial-frequency domains whereas the broad-band channel extends them in the temporal domain.


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