Biomedical subjects

Kenneth Knoblauch

Publications and source records attributed to Kenneth Knoblauch.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Modeling psychometric functions in R.

We demonstrate some procedures in the statistical computing environment R for obtaining maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters of a psychometric function by fitting a generalized nonlinear regression model to the data. A feature for fitting a linear model to the threshold (or other) parameters of several psychometric functions simultaneously provides a powerful tool for testing hypotheses about the data and, potentially, for reducing the number of parameters necessary to describe them. Finally, we illustrate procedures for treating one parameter as a random effect that would permit a simplified approach to modeling stimulus-independent variability due to factors such as lapses or interobserver differences. These tools will facilitate a more comprehensive and explicit approach to the modeling of psychometric data.

Computer Simulation↗

PubMed2005

Frequency and phase contributions to the detection of temporal luminance modulation.

Observers detected a temporally modulated luminance pattern embedded in dynamic noise. A Gabor function with a carrier frequency, in separate conditions of 0, 1.56, or 3.12 Hz, modulated signal contrast. Classification images were constructed in the time, temporal frequency, and temporal phase domains. As stimulus frequency increased, amplitudes of the phase images decreased and amplitudes of the frequency images increased, indicating a corresponding shift in the observers' criteria. The reduced use of phase attenuated time-domain images from signal-absent trials, but physical interactions between signal and noise components tended to preserve time-domain images from signal-present trials. The results illustrate a frequency-dependent strategy shift in detection that may reflect a degree of stimulus uncertainty in the time domain.

Adaptation, Ocular↗

PubMed2004

Difference scaling of gloss: nonlinearity, binocularity, and constancy.

Gloss is an attribute of visual appearance that originates from the geometrical distribution of the light reflected by the surface. We used the maximum likelihood difference scaling (MLDS) procedure (L.T. Maloney & J. N. Yang, 2003) to estimate gloss scales over an extended range. Observers' judgments were obtained for a series of 10 black, coated samples for two directions of illumination, in binocular and monocular vision. The results showed a nonlinear relation between gloss percept and instrumental specular gloss values. Sensitivity is higher at extreme scale values than in the middle. In binocular vision, the sensitivity to gloss is higher than in monocular vision exclusively for high gloss levels. Lastly, we found that gloss difference scales, when expressed in terms of the samples rather than the photometric characteristics, vary little with the direction of illumination. Gloss scaling thus seems to be independent of the geometrical variations of the luminous flux at the surface of the sample. By analogy with the term "color constancy," we call this property "gloss constancy."

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Quantitative analysis of connectivity in the visual cortex: extracting function from structure.

It is generally agreed that information flow through the cortex is constrained by a hierarchical architecture. Lack of precise data on areal connectivity leads to indeterminacy of existing models. The authors introduce two quantitative parameters (SLN and FLN) that hold the promise of resolving such indeterminacy. In the visual system, using a very incomplete database, provisional hierarchies are in line with the recent proposal of higher functions of area V1 and suggest a hitherto unsuspected central function of the frontal eye field.

Nerve Net↗

PubMed2002

Early specification of the hierarchical organization of visual cortical areas in the macaque monkey.

The laminar organization of cortico-cortical projection neurons (expressed by the percentage of supragranular projecting neurons - SLN%) characterizes cortical pathways as feedforward (FF) or feedback (FB) and determines the hierarchical ranking of cortical areas. There is evidence of a developmental reduction in SLN% of pathways to area V1. Here, by analyzing pre- and postnatal projections to area V4, we have been able to address whether developmental reductions of SLN% impact on information processing in the immature cortex. FB pathways to area V4 exhibit 28-84% reduction of SLN%. This contrasts with the FF projections, which show little or no SLN% reduction. However, SLN% values in the immature cortex allocated cortical areas to the same hierarchical levels as in the adult. The developmental reduction of SLN% is a widespread phenomenon in the neocortex and is a distinctive feature of FB pathways. Two mechanisms contribute to developmental changes in SLN%: (i) delayed ingrowth of axons into the cortical target from infragranular layer neurons and (ii) prolonged developmental reduction of the divergence of projections from supragranular layer neurons. The present results show that FF and FB projections exhibit different developmental processes and patterns of connections linking cortical areas and their hierarchical relations are established prenatally, independently of regressive phenomena.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Perceptual classification of chromatic modulation.

We measured the regions of the equiluminant plane that are exploited by observers during a Yes/No detection task. The signal was a 640-ms Gaussian modulation (sigma(t) = 160 ms) of a Gaussian spatial patch (sigma(s) = 2.4 deg) presented in chromatically bivariate uniform noise. One component of the noise was along the direction axial with the signal in color space, the other perpendicular. Four signal directions were tested: along cardinal LM and S axes and two intermediate directions to which the cardinal axes were equally sensitive. The distribution of noise chromaticities from each trial was correlated with the observers' responses and the presence and absence of the signal to build a classification image of the distribution of chromaticities on which the decision of the observer was based. The images show a narrowly selective peak in the signal direction flanked by regions with a broader selectivity. These results raise the possibility that detection judgments are mediated by both linear and nonlinear mechanisms with peak sensitivities between the cardinal directions.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Chromatic contrast detection in spatial chromatic noise.

The spectral properties of chromatic-detection mechanisms were investigated using a noise-masking paradigm. Contrast-detection thresholds were measured for a signal with a Gaussian spatial profile, modulated in the equiluminant plane in the presence of spatial chromatic noise. The noise was distributed within a sector in the equiluminant plane, centered on the signal direction. Each stimulus consisted of two adjacent fields, one of which contained the signal, separated horizontally by a gap with the same average chromaticity as the uniform background. Observers were asked to judge on which side of the central fixation point the signal was displayed via a two-alternative, forced-choice (2AFC) paradigm. Contrast thresholds were measured for four color directions and three sector widths at increasing levels of the average energy of the axial component of the noise. Results show that contrast thresholds are unaffected by the width of the noise sector, as previously found for temporally modulated stimuli (D'Zmura & Knoblauch, 1998). The results are consistent with the existence of spectrally broadband linear-detection mechanisms tuned to the signal color direction and support the hypothesis of the existence of higher-order color mechanisms with sensitivities tuned to intermediate directions in color space.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Psychophysical assessment of magno- and parvocellular function in schizophrenia.

Recently developed psychophysical techniques permit the biasing of the processing of the stimulus by early visual channels so that responses reflect characteristics of either magno- or parvocellular pathways (Pokorny & Smith, 1997). We used such techniques to test psychophysically whether the global magnocellular dysfunction reported in schizophrenia also affects early processes. Seven schizophrenic patients and 19 normal controls participated. The task was a four-alternative forced-choice luminance discrimination, using a 2 x 2 configuration of four 1-deg squares. Target luminance threshold was determined in three conditions: the stimulus, including the target, was pulsed for 17 ms (pulse paradigm); the target was presented on a steady background of four squares (steady paradigm), or the target was presented alone (no background paradigm). We replicated previous results demonstrating magnocellular and parvocellular signatures in control participants. No evidence for an early magnocellular deficit could be detected as the thresholds of all schizophrenic observers were higher both in the steady paradigm (presumed magnocellular mediation) and in the pulse paradigm (presumed parvocellular mediation). Magnocellular dysfunction, if present in schizophrenia, must concern more integrated processes, possibly at levels at which parvocellular and magnocellular paths interact.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

An urn model of the development of L/M cone ratios in human and macaque retinas.

A model of the development of L/M cone ratios in the Old World primate retina is presented. It is supposed that during gestation, the cone cycles randomly between states in which it transcribes either L or M opsin. The current state determines and increases the probability that it will transcribe the same opsin in future cycles. These assumptions are sufficient to formalize the process as a Markov chain that can be modeled as an urn containing two types of balls, L and M. Drawing one ball results in the increase of its species and the decrease of the other. Over the long run, the urn will become populated with a single type of ball. This state corresponds to the photoreceptor adopting a fixed identity for its lifetime. We investigate the effect of the number of states and the rule that regulates the advantage of transition toward one cone type or another on the relation between fetal and adult L/M cone ratios. In the range of 100 to 1000 states, small variations of the initial L/M ratio or the transition advantage can each generate large changes in the final L/M ratio, in qualitative accord with the variation seen in human adult retinas. The time course to attain stable L/M ratios also varies with these parameters. If it is believed that the cycling follows a circadian rhythm, then final L/M cone ratios would be expected to stabilize shortly after birth in the human being and the macaque.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Global integration of local color differences in transparency perception: An fMRI study.

In normal viewing, the visual system effortlessly assigns approximately constant attributes of color and shape to perceived objects. A fundamental component of this process is the compensation for illuminant variations and intervening media to recover reflectance properties of natural surfaces. We exploited the phenomenon of transparency perception to explore the cortical regions implicated in such processes, using fMRI. By manipulating the coherence of local color differences around a region in an image, we interfered with their global perceptual integration and thereby modified whether the region appeared transparent or not. We found the major cortical activation due to global integration of local color differences to be in the anterior part of the parahippocampal gyrus. Regions differentially activated by chromatic versus achromatic geometric patterns showed no significant differential response related to the coherence/incoherence of local color differences. The results link the integration of local color differences in the extraction of a transparent layer with sites activated by object-related properties of an image.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of motion and configural complexity on color transparency perception.

We tested whether motion and configural complexity affect perceived transparency. A series of five coherent chromatic transformations in color space was applied across a figure: translation, convergence, shear, divergence and rotation. The stimuli consisted of a bipartite or a checkerboard configuration (10 x 10 degrees), with a central static or moving overlay (5 x 5 degrees). Three different luminance conditions (the plane of chromatic transformation oriented toward higher, lower, or equal luminances) were also tested for each of three modulation depths. For each stimulus, the observer judged whether the overlay appeared transparent or not. The main results indicated an interaction between the type of chromatic transformation and stimulus motion and complexity. For example, convergences are judged to appear transparent significantly more often when motion is added for bipartite configurations, or when they are generated in a checkerboard configuration. Surprisingly, shears that have been reported to appear opaque, are more frequently reported to appear transparent with short vector lengths and when combined with motion. Other transformations are also affected by motion, although the effectiveness of figural complexity on transparency seems to depend on both the type of color shifts and the presence of motion. The results indicate that adding motion and stimulus complexity are not necessarily neutral with respect to the chromatic shifts evoking transparency. Thus, studies that have used motion to enhance transparency may yield different results about the color shifts supporting transparency perception from those that did not. The same might be supposed for stimulus complexity under some conditions.

Color Perception↗