Diphasic and Polyphasic Temporal Modulations Multiply Apparent Spatial Frequency

Perception ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
V Virsu ◽  
G Nyman ◽  
P K Lehtiö

The effects of diphasic and polyphasic flicker on apparent spatial frequency were studied in several experiments through simultaneous spatial-frequency matches. In diphasic flicker the spatial phase of a sinusoidal grating alternated between two values in a counterphase fashion, and in polyphasic flicker the spatial phases of gratings were varied discretely in time in a variable number of steps. Both forms of flicker increased the apparent spatial frequency at low temporal frequencies, in the same manner as low-frequency monophasic flicker has been found to do. At high temporal frequencies, diphasic flicker doubled the apparent spatial frequency, as reported by Kelly (1966). We found that through high-frequency polyphasic flicker the spatial effect that Kelly mentions can be generalised to spatial frequency multiplication: polyphasic flicker produces not only the apparent second harmonic but also the third and the fourth harmonic, depending on the phase parameters. A numerical analysis showed that the spatial high-frequency effects can be explained through temporal integration of nonlinearly filtered input signals if a value of 200 td(1) is assumed for the nonlinearity constant in [Formula: see text] where B( I) is the brightness, I is the retinal illuminance, K is a scale constant, and I½ is the constant of nonlinearity. A minimum value of 60 ms had to be estimated for integration time. An investigation of the integration time with diphasic flicker indicated that spatial integration time decreases when the level of light adaptation increases, and that the integration time for spatial effects is longer than for flicker fusion. The spatial effects of low-frequency and high-frequency flicker differ in so many respects that different neural processes have to be postulated for their explanation.

Perception ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 25 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 94-94
Author(s):  
B Lee ◽  
B J Rogers

Narrow-band-filtered random-dot stereograms were used to determine stereo thresholds for detecting sinusoidal disparity modulations. These stereograms were designed to stimulate selectively channels tuned to luminance and corrugation spatial frequencies (Schumer and Ganz, 1979 Vision Research19 1303 – 1314). Thresholds were determined for corrugation frequencies ranging from 0.125 to 1 cycle deg−1, luminance centre spatial frequencies ranging from 1 to 8 cycles deg−1 and disparity pedestal sizes ranging from −32 to +32 min arc. For small disparity pedestals, lowest modulation thresholds were found around 0.5 cycle deg−1 corrugation frequency and 4 cycles deg−1 luminance centre spatial frequency. For large disparity pedestals (±32 arc min), lowest thresholds were shifted towards the lower corrugation frequencies (0.125 cycle deg−1) and lower luminance frequencies (2 cycles deg−1). There was a significant interaction between luminance spatial frequency and disparity pedestal size. For small pedestals, lowest thresholds were found with the highest luminance frequency pattern (4 cycles deg−1). For large pedestals, best performance shifted towards the low-frequency patterns (1 cycle deg−1). This effect demonstrates a massive reduction in stereo-efficiency for high-frequency patterns in the luminance domain at large disparity pedestals which is consistent with the ‘size-disparity relation’ proposed by previous researchers.


Perception ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel R Long

The transfer of learning between normal and monocularly-transformed small-disparity, random-dot stereostimuli has been examined under extended viewing conditions. When the disparity value was constant, transfer of learning between normal and monocularly-transformed stereostimuli was disrupted by both low-frequency and high-frequency transformations. These results suggest that stereolearning is restricted to disparity units that are selective to the same spatial-frequency characteristics.


Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 1047-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard C Hughes ◽  
David M Aronchick ◽  
Michael D Nelson

It has previously been observed that low spatial frequencies (≤ 1.0 cycles deg−1) tend to dominate high spatial frequencies (≥ 5.0 cycles deg−1) in several types of visual-information-processing tasks. This earlier work employed reaction times as the primary performance measure and the present experiments address the possibility of low-frequency dominance by evaluating visually guided performance of a completely different response system: the control of slow-pursuit eye movements. Slow-pursuit gains (eye velocity/stimulus velocity) were obtained while observers attempted to track the motion of a sine-wave grating. The drifting gratings were presented on three types of background: a uniform background, a background consisting of a stationary grating, or a flickering background. Low-frequency dominance was evident over a wide range of velocities, in that a stationary high-frequency component produced little disruption in the pursuit of a drifting low spatial frequency, but a stationary low frequency interfered substantially with the tracking of a moving high spatial frequency. Pursuit was unaffected by temporal modulation of the background, suggesting that these effects are due to the spatial characteristics of the stationary grating. Similar asymmetries were observed with respect to the stability of fixation: active fixation was less stable in the presence of a drifting low frequency than in the presence of a drifting high frequency.


Vision ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Asher ◽  
Vincenzo Romei ◽  
Paul Hibbard

Perceptual learning is typically highly specific to the stimuli and task used during training. However, recently, it has been shown that training on global motion can transfer to untrained tasks, reflecting the generalising properties of mechanisms at this level of processing. We investigated (i) if feedback was required for learning in a motion coherence task, (ii) the transfer across the spatial frequency of training on a global motion coherence task and (iii) the transfer of this training to a measure of contrast sensitivity. For our first experiment, two groups, with and without feedback, trained for ten days on a broadband motion coherence task. Results indicated that feedback was a requirement for robust learning. For the second experiment, training consisted of five days of direction discrimination using one of three motion coherence stimuli (where individual elements were comprised of either broadband Gaussian blobs or low- or high-frequency random-dot Gabor patches), with trial-by-trial auditory feedback. A pre- and post-training assessment was conducted for each of the three types of global motion coherence conditions and high and low spatial frequency contrast sensitivity (both without feedback). Our training paradigm was successful at eliciting improvement in the trained tasks over the five days. Post-training assessments found evidence of transfer for the motion coherence task exclusively for the group trained on low spatial frequency elements. For the contrast sensitivity tasks, improved performance was observed for low- and high-frequency stimuli, following motion coherence training with broadband stimuli, and for low-frequency stimuli, following low-frequency training. Our findings are consistent with perceptual learning, which depends on the global stage of motion processing in higher cortical areas, which is broadly tuned for spatial frequency, with a preference for low frequencies.


1996 ◽  
Vol 199 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Waters ◽  
G Jones

The noctuid moths Agrotis segetum and Noctua pronuba show peak auditory sensitivity between 15 and 25 kHz, and a maximum sensitivity of 35 dB SPL. A. segetum shows a temporal integration time of 69 ms. It is predicted that bats using high-frequency and short-duration calls will be acoustically less apparent to these moths. Short-duration frequency-modulated (FM) calls of Plecotus auritus are not significantly less acoustically apparent than those of other FM bats with slightly longer call durations, based on their combined frequency and temporal structure alone. Long-duration, high-frequency, constant-frequency (CF) calls of Rhinolophus hipposideros at 113 kHz are significantly less apparent than those of the FM bats tested. The predicted low call apparency of the 83 kHz CF calls of R. ferrumequinum appears to be counteracted by their long duration. It is proposed that two separate mechanisms are exploited by bats to reduce their call apparency, low intensity in FM bats and high frequency in CF bats. Within the FM bats tested, shorter-duration calls do not significantly reduce the apparency of the call at the peripheral level, though they may limit the amount of information available to the central nervous system.


1974 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 576-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Spence ◽  
Lawrence L. Feth

Many studies of auditory temporal integration by pathological ears have used listeners with an abrupt high-frequency hearing loss. While this configuration may lend itself to use of the listener as his own control, it presents the opportunity for detection of the low-frequency energy of the brief-tone bursts. This study was designed to assess the role of low-frequency energy in the determination of brief-tone thresholds of listeners with such abrupt high-frequency losses. Low-frequency energy was reduced to subthreshold levels by passing the brief tones through a filter system which had a sharp high-pass characteristic. For both normal and impaired listeners, no significant differences in threshold were found between filtered and unfiltered brief tones. Thus, we must conclude that although the opportunity for off-frequency detection is present, the abnormal temporal integration functions cannot be attributed to stimulus artifact.


2005 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
◽  
◽  

AbstractFlickering light can cause adverse effects in some humans, as can rhythmic spatial patterns of particular frequencies. We investigated whether birds react to the temporal frequency of standard 100 Hz fluorescent lamps and the spatial frequency of the visual surround in the manner predicted by the human literature, by examining their effects on the preferences, behaviour and plasma corticosterone of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). We predicted that high frequency lighting (> 30 kHz) and a relatively low spatial frequency on the walls of their cages (0.1 cycle cm−1) would be less aversive than low frequency lighting (100 Hz) and a relatively high spatial frequency (2.5 cycle cm−1). Birds had strong preferences for both temporal and spatial frequencies. These preferences did not always fit with predictions, although there was evidence that 100 Hz was more stressful than 30 kHz lighting, as birds were less active and basal corticosterone levels were higher under 100 Hz lighting. Our chosen spatial frequencies had no overall significant effect on corticosterone levels. Although there are clearly effects of, and interactions between, the frequency of the light and the visual surround on the behaviour and physiology of birds, the pattern of results is not straightforward.


2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 2024-2030 ◽  
Author(s):  
In-Ki Jin ◽  
James M. Kates ◽  
Kathryn H. Arehart

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify whether differences in dynamic range (DR) are evident across the spoken languages of Korean, English, and Mandarin. Method Recorded sentence-level speech materials were used as stimuli. DR was quantified using different definitions of DR (defined as the range in decibels from the highest to the lowest signal intensities), for several integration times (from 1 to 512 ms) and in different frequency bands (center frequencies [CFs] ranging from 150 to 8600 Hz). Results Across the 3 languages, DR was affected in similar ways with regard to changes in DR definition and integration time. In contrast, across-language differences in DR were evident when considering frequency-band effects. Specifically, the DR for Korean was smaller than the English DR and the Mandarin DR in low-frequency bands (less than the CF of 455 Hz). Compared with Korean and Mandarin, the DR for English was smallest in mid-frequency bands (between the CF of 455 Hz and 4050 Hz) and was greatest in high-frequency bands (above the CF of 4050 Hz). Conclusion The observed differences in DR across languages suggest that the best-fit DR for Korean and Mandarin may be different than the best fit for English.


1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard C. Hughes ◽  
George Nozawa ◽  
Frederick Kitterle

A great deal of evidence suggests that early in processing, retinal images are filtered by parallel, spatial frequency selective channels. We attempt to incorporate this view of early vision with the principle of global precedence, which holds that Gestalt-like processes sensitive to global image configurations tend to dominate local feature processing in human pattern perception. Global precedence is inferred from the pattern of reaction times observed when visual patterns contain multiple cues at different levels of spatial scale. Specifically, it is frequently observed that global processing times are largely unaffected by conflicting local cues, but local processing times are substantially lengthened by conflicting global cues. The asymmetry of these effects suggests the dominant role of global configurations. Since global spatial information is effectively represented by low spatial frequencies, global precedence potentially implies a low frequency dominance. The thesis is that low spatial frequencies tend to be available before information carried by higher frequency bands, producing a coarse-to-fine temporal order in visual spatial perception. It is suggested that a variety of factors contribute to the “prior entry” of low frequency information, including the high contrast gain of the magnocellular pathway, the amplitude spectra typical of natural images, and inhibitory interactions between the parallel frequency-tuned channels. Evidence suggesting a close relationship between global precedence and spatial frequency channels is provided by observations that the essential features of the global precedence effect are obtained using patterns consisting of low and high frequency sinusoids. The hypothesis that these asymmetric interference effects are due to interactions between parallel spatial channels is supported by an analysis of reaction times (RTs), which shows that RTs to redundant low and high frequency cues produce less facilitation than predictions that assume the channels are independent. In view of previous work showing that global precedence depends upon the low frequency content of the stimuli, we suggest that low spatial frequencies represent the sine qua non for the dominance of configurational cues in human pattern perception, and that this configurational dominance reflects the microgenesis of visual pattern perception. This general view of the temporal dynamics of visual pattern recognition is discussed, is considered from an evolutionary perspective, and is related to certain statistical regularities in natural scenes. Potential adaptive advantages of an interactive parallel architecture that confers an initial processing advantage to low resolution information are explored.


1997 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernst Pöppel

States of being conscious (S) can be defined on the basis of temporal information processing. A high-frequency mechanism provides atemporal system states with periods of approximately 30 msec to implement the functional connection of distributed activities allowing the construction of primordial events; a low frequency mechanism characterized by automatic temporal integration sets up temporal windows with approximately 3 seconds duration. This integration mechanism can be used to define S. P-consciousness and A-consciousness as conceived of by Block can be mapped onto these neuronal mechanisms.


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