Spatial frequency content of visual imagery

Three experiments employing the McCollough paradigm were conducted to determine the spatial-frequency content of visual imagery. In Experiment 1, large and reliable pattern-contingent color aftereffects were obtained after adaptation to visual imagery. The direction of the aftereffects indicated that subjects were adapting to higher spatial frequencies in their imagery. These results contrast with the data of Experiment 2, which demonstrate that color aftereffects obtained with adaptation to physically present stimuli are mediated by the fundamental spatial frequency components. The magnitude of the imagery-induced aftereffects in Experiment 1 equaled the magnitude of the externally induced aftereffects obtained in Experiment 2 with the same subjects. By blurring the to-be-imaged patterns (Experiment 3), the fundamental Fourier components became the salient perceptual features of the stimuli, and the direction of the imagery-induced aftereffects was reversed from that of Experiment 1, indicating that the spatial frequency content of the imagery had changed from higher to lower frequencies. Under normal viewing conditions, subjects use the higher spatial frequencies associated with the perceptually salient edges of stimuli to construct their images. The results of Experiments 1 and 3 are discussed in light of a current controversy over the nature of information representation in imagery, and it is concluded that support has been obtained for the analog model of visual imagery.

[1]  Marty J. Schmidt,et al.  The quantitative measure of pattern representation in images using orientation-specific color aftereffects , 1978, Perception & psychophysics.

[2]  Zenon W. Pylyshyn,et al.  What the Mind’s Eye Tells the Mind’s Brain: A Critique of Mental Imagery , 1973 .

[3]  C F Stromeyer,et al.  Edge-contingent color after effects: spatial frequency specificity. , 1972, Vision research.

[4]  V Zemon,et al.  A comparison of Fourier analysis and feature analysis in pattern-specific color aftereffects. , 1976, Science.

[5]  Keith D. White.  Luminance as a parameter in establishment and testing of the McCollough effect , 1976, Vision Research.

[6]  John R. Anderson.  Arguments concerning representations for mental imagery. , 1978 .

[7]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Mental imagery acuity in the peripheral visual field. , 1980, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[8]  The range of spatial frequency contingent color aftereffects , 1978, Vision Research.

[9]  Bruno G. Breitmeyer,et al.  Fequency-specific color adaptation in the human visual system , 1972 .

[10]  R. B. Morant,et al.  The McCollough effect: Influence of several kinds of visual stimulation on decay rate , 1974 .

[11]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Imagery, propositions, and the form of internal representations , 1977, Cognitive Psychology.

[12]  D. H. Kelly.  Pattern detection and the two-dimensional Fourier transform: Flickering checkerboards and chromatic mechanisms , 1976, Vision Research.

[13]  L. S. Fidell.  Orientation specificity in chromatic adaptation of human “edge-detectors” , 1970 .

[14]  C. McCollough.  Color Adaptation of Edge-Detectors in the Human Visual System , 1965, Science.

[15]  Z. Pylyshyn,et al.  The rate of “mental rotation” of images: A test of a holistic analogue hypothesis , 1979, Memory & cognition.

[16]  J G May,et al.  Spatial frequency-contingent color aftereffects. , 1976, Science.

[17]  J. May,et al.  The effects of differential adaptation on spatial frequency-contingent color aftereffects , 1978, Perception & psychophysics.

[18]  D. Holding,et al.  Extremely long-term persistence of the McCollough effect. , 1975 .

[19]  Marty J. Schmidt,et al.  Orientation-Specific Color Aftereffects Following Imagination. , 1977 .