Spatial Frequency Channels: Neural Mechanisms

When one is concerned with the investigation of spatial frequency channels in the visual system, one often has to face the use of periodical visual stimuli which are generated on television displays by means of the sophisticated techniques of modern electronics. However, many physiologists and psychologists have criticized periodical stimuli as being visually unnatural and maintain that our visual world is composed of more complicated stimuli such as bars and edges at various orientations. Admittedly, the experimental visual world utilized by visual scientists is very limited and most of the time it is seemingly irrelevant and uninteresting to the subjects of the experiment. Without a doubt, the familiarity of objects and the emotions evoked in recognizing them are essential factors underlying pattern perception. Numerous experiments, both old and new, indicate that the capabilities of our visual systems are molded, at least in part, by our previous experience of the external world.

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