Metacontrast masking is specific to luminance polarity

UNLABELLED A 1 degrees -spot was flashed up on a screen, followed by a snugly fitting annular mask. We measured the amount of masking as a function of stimulus luminance. The surround was always mid-gray, the masking ring was either black or white, and the luminance of the spot target ranged from 0% to 100% of white in 4% steps. Observers reported the apparent lightness of the masked spot by adjusting a matching spot. RESULTS A black annular mask made all spots that were darker than the gray surround appear to be transparent, that is, of the same luminance as the surround (complete masking). The black ring had virtually no masking effect on spots that were lighter than the surround. Conversely, a white ring made all spots that were lighter than the gray surround look apparently the same luminance as the surround (complete masking), but had virtually no masking effect on spots that were darker than the surround. In summary, a black ring masked spatial decrements but not increments, whilst a white ring masked spatial increments but not decrements. Thus masking occurred only when the spot and the ring had the same luminance polarity. This same-polarity masking still occurred when the target spot was larger than the 'donut hole' of the masking ring, so that the target and ring partly overlapped. This ruled out simple edge-cancellation theories. Instead, masking disrupts the filling-in process that normally propagates inward from the edges of a spot [Vision Res. 31 (7-8) (1991) 1221]. We conclude that metacontrast masking occurs within, but not between, separate visual ON and OFF pathways.

[1]  G Francis,et al.  Quantitative theories of metacontrast masking. , 2000, Psychological review.

[2]  Talis Bachmann.  Psychophysiology of Visual Masking: The Fine Structure of Conscious Experience , 1994 .

[3]  G. Mowbray,et al.  Visual Masking , 1964, Nature.

[4]  H. Werner.  Studies on Contour: I. Qualitative Analyses , 1935 .

[5]  D. Kahneman.  Method, findings, and theory in studies of visual masking. , 1968, Psychological bulletin.

[6]  P. A. Kolers,et al.  On visual masking (metacontrast): dichoptic observation. , 1960, The American journal of psychology.

[7]  S. Anstis,et al.  Visual Adaptation to Gradual Change of Intensity , 1967, Science.

[8]  David R. Badcock,et al.  Global motion perception: Interaction of the ON and OFF pathways , 1994, Vision Research.

[9]  J. Enns,et al.  What’s new in visual masking? , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[10]  P. H. Schiller.  Central connections of the retinal ON and OFF pathways , 1982, Nature.

[11]  R. von der Heydt,et al.  Coding of Border Ownership in Monkey Visual Cortex , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[12]  D. Mackay,et al.  Polarity-sensitive perceptual adaptation to temporal sawtooth modulation of luminance , 1979, Experimental Brain Research.

[13]  S. Hochstein,et al.  On and off pathway contributions to apparent motion perception , 1990, Vision Research.

[14]  R. W. Bowen.  Isolation and interaction of ON and OFF pathways in human vision: Contrast discrimination at pattern offset , 1997, Vision Research.

[15]  Joel Pokorny,et al.  Sawtooth contrast sensitivity: Effects of mean illuminance and low temporal frequencies , 1992, Vision Research.

[16]  Julie M. Harris,et al.  Independent neural mechanisms for bright and dark information in binocular stereopsis , 1995, Nature.

[17]  Peter H. Schiller,et al.  The connections of the retinal on and off pathways to the lateral geniculate nucleus of the monkey , 1984, Vision Research.

[18]  A. Stoper,et al.  Relation of split apparent motion to metacontrast. , 1977, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[19]  B. Breitmeyer,et al.  Recent models and findings in visual backward masking: A comparison, review, and update , 2000, Perception & psychophysics.

[20]  I. Morgan,et al.  Intravitreal kainic acid permanently eliminates off-pathways from chicken retina , 1983, Neuroscience Letters.

[21]  P. Lennie,et al.  Spatial and temporal contrast sensitivities of neurones in lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque. , 1984, The Journal of physiology.

[22]  D. Hubel,et al.  Spatial and chromatic interactions in the lateral geniculate body of the rhesus monkey. , 1966, Journal of neurophysiology.

[23]  M. Livingstone,et al.  Neuronal correlates of visibility and invisibility in the primate visual system , 1998, Nature Neuroscience.

[24]  Robert Sekuler,et al.  Handbook of Sensory Physiology, Vol. 7/4, Visual Psychophysics , 1973 .

[25]  B. Breitmeyer.  Metacontrast with black and white stimuli: Evidence for inhibition of on- and off-sustained activity by either on- or off-transient activity , 1978, Vision Research.

[26]  R. W. Bowen.  Isolation and interaction of ON and OFF pathways in human vision: Pattern-polarity effects on contrast discrimination , 1995, Vision Research.

[27]  G. Francis,et al.  Cortical dynamics of lateral inhibition: metacontrast masking. , 1997, Psychological review.

[28]  M. Sanders.  Handbook of Sensory Physiology , 1975 .

[29]  Dynamic contrast perception assessed by pattern masking. , 1998, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[30]  A. Reeves.  Metacontrast U-Shaped Functions Derive from Two Monotonic Processes , 1982, Perception.

[31]  Ken Nakayama,et al.  Brightness perception and filling-in , 1991, Vision Research.

[32]  W N Dember,et al.  Metacontrast with black and white stimuli. , 1974, Canadian journal of psychology.

[33]  John Krauskopf,et al.  Discrimination and detection of changes in luminance , 1980, Vision Research.

[34]  S. Anstis,et al.  Properties of the visual channels that underlie adaptation to gradual change of luminance , 1993, Vision Research.

[35]  B G Breitmeyer,et al.  Implications of sustained and transient channels for theories of visual pattern masking, saccadic suppression, and information processing. , 1976, Psychological review.

[36]  Joel Pokorny,et al.  Sawtooth contrast sensitivity: Decrements have the edge , 1989, Vision Research.

[37]  S. C. Collyer,et al.  Chromatic relationships in metacontrast suppression , 1970 .

[38]  Peter H. Schiller,et al.  The ON and OFF channels of the visual system , 1992, Trends in Neurosciences.

[39]  P. Lennie,et al.  Chromatic mechanisms in striate cortex of macaque , 1990, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[40]  DH Hubel,et al.  Psychophysical evidence for separate channels for the perception of form, color, movement, and depth , 1987, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[41]  P. Demarco,et al.  The contributions of ON- and OFF-pathways to contrast sensitivity and spatial resolution in goldfish , 1995, Vision Research.

[42]  Arnulf Remole,et al.  VISUAL MASKING: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH , 1985 .