The Channel for Detecting Contrast Modulation also responds to Density Modulation (or Vice Versa)

Morgan, M., Macleod, D. & Solomon, J. A. ORCID: 0000-0001-9976-4788 (2022). The Channel for Detecting Contrast Modulation also responds to Density Modulation (or Vice Versa). Vision Research, 192, 107948. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2021.08.003

Abstract

In textures composed of black and white dots, we modulated dot density and/or dot contrast in one direction of visual space. Just as Mulligan and MacLeod (1988) found a strong reciprocity between density and luminance for dots viewed against a darker background, we found a strong reciprocity between density and contrast: detection thresholds for in-phase modulations of density and contrast were 30% - 55% lower than detection thresholds for density and contrast modulations that were 180° out of phase. These findings support the existence of at least one psychophysical channel that is excited by both density modulations and contrast modulations. A good, quantitative fit to our data can be obtained with a two-channel model.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2021. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0. This article has been accepted for publication in Vision Research, Elsevier.
Publisher Keywords:	Texture, Density, Numerosity, Contrast, Signal detection
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics R Medicine > RE Ophthalmology
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Optometry & Visual Sciences