Serial spatial filters in vision

Observers viewing two superimposed laser interference fringes of nearly equal spatial frequency see an illusory grating of low spatial frequency, even when the spatial frequency of the fringes exceeds the resolution limit. This grating is a product of nonlinear distortion within the visual system [MacLeod, Williams and Makous (1992) Vision Research, 32, 347-363]. By separately manipulating the spatial frequencies of the interference fringes and the distortion gratings, we decomposed the contrast sensitivity function into two serial components separated by the nonlinear process. Losses in the optics of the eye were avoided by use of laser interferometry. Spatial summation preceding the nonlinear stage was restricted to the light-collecting area of individual cones and was directly proportional to the diameters of cone inner segments at three retinal eccentricities; this suggests that light is trapped within cones at the level of their inner segments. Even 30 degrees from the fovea, the nonlinear stage precedes the site where separate signals from individual cones are no longer maintained; this leads us to suggest that the nonlinear process lies within the retina. In addition, spatial antagonism precedes the nonlinear stage; this places the nonlinear process at a site following the outer segments of the cones. Dichoptic presentation of the interference fringes failed to produce illusory gratings; that is, the nonlinearities within the binocular pathway do not produce distortions like those produced by the monocular nonlinearity.

[1]  David Regan,et al.  A frequency domain technique for characterizing nonlinearities in biological systems , 1988 .

[2]  G. J. Burton,et al.  Evidence for non-linear response processes in the human visual system from measurements on the thresholds of spatial beat frequencies. , 1973, Vision research.

[3]  David Williams,et al.  A visual nonlinearity fed by single cones , 1992, Vision Research.

[4]  David Williams.  Topography of the foveal cone mosaic in the living human eye , 1988, Vision Research.

[5]  Steinman Rm,et al.  The role of eye movement in the detection of contrast and spatial detail. , 1990 .

[6]  M. Georgeson,et al.  Contrast constancy: deblurring in human vision by spatial frequency channels. , 1975, The Journal of physiology.

[7]  David Williams,et al.  Blurring by fixational eye movements , 1992, Vision Research.

[8]  T. Lamb,et al.  Spatial properties of horizontal cell responses in the turtle retina. , 1976, The Journal of physiology.

[9]  Wilson S. Geisler,et al.  The physical limits of grating visibility , 1987, Vision Research.

[10]  T. Cornsweet,et al.  Relation of increment thresholds to brightness and luminance. , 1965, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[11]  D. Baylor,et al.  Receptive fields of cones in the retina of the turtle , 1971, The Journal of physiology.

[12]  B. Boycott,et al.  Morphological Classification of Bipolar Cells of the Primate Retina , 1991, The European journal of neuroscience.

[13]  Paul R. Martin,et al.  Density of Bipolar Cells in the Macaque Monkey Retina , 1991 .

[14]  David Williams.  Aliasing in human foveal vision , 1985, Vision Research.

[15]  B. Boycott,et al.  Retinal ganglion cell density and cortical magnification factor in the primate , 1990, Vision Research.

[16]  H. Kolb,et al.  Midget ganglion cells of the parafovea of the human retina: A Study by electron microscopy and serial section reconstructions , 1991, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[17]  A. Fiorentini.  Mach Band Phenomena , 1972 .

[18]  M. Lankheet,et al.  Spatial properties of horizontal cell reponses in the cat retina , 1990, Vision Research.

[19]  D. Burkhardt,et al.  Brightness and the increment threshold. , 1966, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[20]  D. Baylor,et al.  Visual transduction in cones of the monkey Macaca fascicularis. , 1990, The Journal of physiology.

[21]  B. Boycott,et al.  Functional architecture of the mammalian retina. , 1991, Physiological reviews.

[22]  E. A. Schwartz,et al.  Hemi‐gap‐junction channels in solitary horizontal cells of the catfish retina. , 1992, The Journal of physiology.

[23]  D. Levi,et al.  Binocular beats: Psychophysical studies of binocular interaction in normal and stereoblind humans , 1989, Vision Research.

[24]  H. Kolb,et al.  Organization of the outer plexiform layer of the primate retina: electron microscopy of Golgi-impregnated cells. , 1970, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[25]  J. Rovamo,et al.  Cortical magnification factor predicts the photopic contrast sensitivity of peripheral vision , 1978, Nature.

[26]  C. Curcio,et al.  Topography of ganglion cells in human retina , 1990, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[27]  B. Boycott,et al.  Horizontal Cells in the Monkey Retina: Cone connections and dendritic network , 1989, The European journal of neuroscience.

[28]  W. Andrew.  The vertebrate visual system , 1957 .

[29]  A Kaneko,et al.  Electrical connexions between horizontal cells in the dogfish retina , 1971, The Journal of physiology.

[30]  R. Nelson,et al.  Cat cones have rod input: A comparison of the response properties of cones and horizontal cell bodies in the retina of the cat , 1977, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[31]  P. Whittle,et al.  The effect of background luminance on the brightness of flashes. , 1969, Vision research.

[32]  A. Watson,et al.  Quest: A Bayesian adaptive psychometric method , 1983, Perception & psychophysics.

[33]  Bahaa E. A. Saleh.  Chapter 10 – Optical Information Processing and the Human Visual System , 1982 .

[34]  A. Hendrickson,et al.  Human photoreceptor topography , 1990, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[35]  B. Boycott,et al.  The horizontal cells of the rhesus monkey retina , 1973, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[36]  Light capture by human cones. , 1989, The Journal of physiology.

[37]  S. Mangel,et al.  Analysis of the horizontal cell contribution to the receptive field surround of ganglion cells in the rabbit retina. , 1991, The Journal of physiology.

[38]  S. Baer,et al.  Background-induced flicker enhancement in cat retinal horizontal cells. II. Spatial properties. , 1990, Journal of neurophysiology.

[39]  J. M. Hopkins,et al.  Cone connections of the horizontal cells of the rhesus monkey’s retina , 1987, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences.

[40]  N. Graham.  Visual detection of aperiodic spatial stimuli by probability summation among narrowband channels , 1977, Vision Research.

[41]  B. Boycott,et al.  Cone bipolar cells and cone synapses in the primate retina , 1991, Visual Neuroscience.

[42]  R. W. Rodieck,et al.  Parasol and midget ganglion cells of the human retina , 1985, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[43]  D. Williams,et al.  Visibility of interference fringes near the resolution limit. , 1985, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.