Biomedical subjects

L Poom

Publications and source records attributed to L Poom.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Visual summation of luminance lines and illusory contours induced by pictorial, motion, and disparity cues.

Illusory contours where no contrast exists in the image can be seen between pairs of spatially separate but aligned inducing real contours defined either by pictorial cues (luminance contrasts or offset gratings), kinetic contrast, or binocular disparity contrast. In previous studies it has been shown that the detection of a thin luminous line is facilitated when the line is superimposed on illusory contours and the inducing flanking elements are defined by luminance contrast. By using a spatial forced-choice technique I show that luminous lines summate with illusory contours induced by luminance contrast, offset gratings, motion contrast, and disparity contrast when the line is superimposed on the illusory contour. Control experiments show that the positional cues, offered by the inducing contours, are unable to account for these results. It is suggested that real luminous lines or edges and illusory contours activate common neural mechanisms in the brain irrespectively of the stimulus attributes that induce the illusory contour.

Contrast Sensitivity↗

PubMed2001

Visual inter-attribute contour completion.

A new visual phenomenon, inter-attribute illusory (completed) contours, is demonstrated. Contour completions are perceived between any combination of spatially separate pairs of inducing elements (Kanizsa-like 'pacman' figures) defined either by pictorial cues (luminance contrast or offset gratings), temporal contrast (motion, second-order-motion or 'phantom' contours), or binocular-disparity contrast. In a first experiment, observers reported the perceived occurrence of contour completion for all pair combinations of inducing elements. In a second experiment they rated the perceived clarity of the completed contours. Both methods generated similar results contour completions were perceived even though the inducing elements were defined by different attributes. Ratings of inter-attribute clarity were no lower than in either of the two corresponding intra-attribute conditions and seem to be the average of these two ratings. The results provide evidence for the existence of attribute-invariant Gestalt processes, and on a mechanistic level indicate that the completion process operates on attribute-invariant contour detectors.

Contrast Sensitivity↗

PubMed2000

Inter-attribute tilt effects and orientation analysis in the visual brain.

A test grating appears to be tilted away from an inducing grating for small angular separations (repulsion), but towards the inducing grating for larger angular separations (attraction). Previous research on luminance gratings suggests that repulsion is caused by local inhibition in cortical areas V1 and/or V2, and that the attraction involves global interactions beyond V1, in extrastriate areas. Experiments reported here demonstrate attribute invariant attraction and repulsion effects for gratings specified by luminance, motion, and disparity contrasts. A frame surrounding the inducing grating abolishes only the attraction effect, but a spatial frequency difference, or a small gap between the inducer and test gratings, abolishes only the repulsion effect, irrespective of the attributes that specify the gratings. It is proposed that detectors selectively sensitive to attribute invariant orientation and size exist in early cortical sites such as V1 and/or V2.

Form Perception↗

PubMed2000

Mechanisms for seeing transparency-from-motion and orientation-from-motion.

Structure-from-motion (SFM) perception is hypothesised to be mediated by units that sense the near-far relationships in transparency-from-motion (TFM) and orientation-from-motion (OFM). The frequency of subjective reversals during observation of ambiguous SFM displays is considerably decreased when either the direction of rotation or the surface orientation is oscillated during the inspection. Such manipulations impede adaptation of units selectively sensitive to TFM and OFM. The results show that both OFM and TFM units are direction-selective, and that the reversal rate is unaffected by reducing TFM to zero; and support the view that depth order, when both TFM and OFM are present, is estimated by common neural units.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed1999

Perceptual depth synthesis in the visual system as revealed by selective adaptation.

Selective adaptations was used to determine the degree of interactions between channels processing relative depth from stereopsis, motion parallax, and texture. Monocular adaptations with motion parallax or binocular stationary adaptation caused test surfaces, viewed either stationary binocularly or monocularly with motion parallax, to appear to slant in the opposite direction compared with the slant initially adapted to. Monocular adaptations on frontoparallel surfaces covered with a pattern of texture gradients caused a subsequently viewed test surface, viewed either monocularly with motion parallax or stationary binocularly, to appear to slant in the opposite direction as the slant indicated by the texture in the adaptation condition. No aftereffect emerged in the monocular stationary test condition. A mechanism of independent channels for relative depth perception is dismissed in favor of a view of an asymmetrical interactive processing of different information sources. The results suggest asymmetrical inhibitory interactions among habituating slant detector units receiving inputs from static disparity, dynamic disparity, and texture gradients.

Adaptation, Physiological↗