Grating and flicker sensitivity in the near and far periphery: naso-temporal asymmetries and binocular summation.

A variety of recent physiological and psychophysical experiments provide evidence for a large asymmetry between nasal and temporal processing outside of the central 40 degrees of visual field. Binocular processing has also been found to be reduced outside of this region even though the individual left and right eye fields continue to overlap for a full 120 degrees. In an effort to help quantify these findings, monocular and binocular grating and flicker contrast sensitivities were measured in the fovea and in the near and far periphery. The results show a large asymmetry between nasal and temporal retinal grating sensitivity in the far periphery especially at high spatial frequencies. A smaller asymmetry was found for flicker but no differential effect of flicker frequency was found. The summation results are consistent with previous findings in showing greatly reduced binocular processing outside of the central 40 degrees; this is especially true for the grating stimuli. These results are discussed with respect to possible physiological mechanisms.

Efficient and unbiased modifications of the QUEST threshold method: theory, simulations, experimental evaluation and practical implementation.

QUEST [Watson and Pelli, Perception and Psychophysics, 13, 113-120 (1983)] is an efficient method of measuring thresholds which is based on three steps: (1) Specification of prior knowledge and assumptions, including an initial probability density function (p.d.f.) of threshold (i.e. relative probability of different thresholds in the population). (2) A method for choosing the stimulus intensity of any trial. (3) A method for choosing the final threshold estimate. QUEST introduced a Bayesian framework for combining prior knowledge with the results of previous trials to calculate a current p.d.f.; this is then used to implement Steps 2 and 3. While maintaining this Bayesian approach, this paper evaluates whether modifications of the QUEST method (particularly Step 2, but also Steps 1 and 3) can lead to greater precision and reduced bias. Four variations of the QUEST method (differing in Step 2) were evaluated by computer simulations. In addition to the standard method of setting the stimulus intensity to the mode of the current p.d.f. of threshold, the alternatives of using the mean and the median were evaluated. In the fourth variation--the Minimum Variance Method--the next stimulus intensity is chosen to minimize the expected variance at the end of the next trial. An exact enumeration technique with up to 20 trials was used for both yes-no and two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) experiments. In all cases, using the mean (here called ZEST) provided better precision than using the median which in turn was better than using the mode. The Minimum Variance Method provided slightly better precision than ZEST. The usual threshold criterion--based on the "ideal sweat factor"--may not provide optimum precision; efficiency can generally be improved by optimizing the threshold criterion. We therefore recommend either using ZEST with the optimum threshold criterion or the more complex Minimum Variance Method. A distinction is made between "measurement bias", which is derived from the mean of repeated threshold estimates for a single real threshold, and "interpretation bias", which is derived from the mean of real thresholds yielding a single threshold estimate. If their assumptions are correct, the current methods have no interpretation bias, but they do have measurement bias. Interpretation bias caused by errors in the assumptions used by ZEST is evaluated. The precisions and merits of yes-no and 2AFC techniques are compared.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Correlation of chromatic, spatial, and temporal sensitivity in optic nerve disease.

Spearman rank-order correlations (R) were made between the color-mixture threshold, spatial contrast sensitivity, and flicker sensitivity measurements of 38 patients with a variety of optic nerve disorders. Patients had to satisfy the following criteria: greater than 0.5 log unit loss of chromatic or achromatic sensitivity (compared to age-matched normals), central fixation, no congenital color defects, and no ocular media abnormalities. The results of the analysis show a significant correlation between selective losses of high spatial frequency sensitivity (relative to low) and selective losses of red/green and blue/yellow sensitivities [R = -0.680 (P less than 0.001) and R = -0.439 (P less than 0.01), respectively]. A mild correlation was found between selective spatial and selective temporal losses [r = -0.399 (P less than 0.05)] (ie, low temporal frequency losses correlate with high spatial frequency losses and vice versa). A stronger correlation was found between selective red/green and selective blue/yellow sensitivity losses [R = 0.657 (P less than 0.001)]. No correlation was found between selective temporal losses and selective chromatic losses. These findings can be explained in terms of differential losses of three types of fibers: (1) fibers that are particularly sensitive to red/green color, high spatial and low temporal frequencies; (2) fibers signalling blue/yellow color; and (3) fibers that are relatively sensitive to high temporal frequencies and low spatial frequencies.

Perceptual correlates of magnocellular and parvocellular channels: seeing form and depth in afterimages.

The chromatic and achromatic channels of psychophysical models do not map simply onto the parvocellular and magnocellular channels of electrophysiology because the parvo channel carries both chromatic and achromatic signals. If vision of stabilized images be mediated by the parvo channel, then this channel mediates form and depth percepts.