Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 27, 2025
Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity
Published on: March 18, 2019
Suppressive effect of sustained low-contrast adaptation followed by transient high-contrast on peripheral target
Farshad Moradi1, Shinsuke Shimojo
1Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. farshadm@caltech.edu
Abstract:
We observed that presenting a low-contrast Gabor patch (2 cpd, 5 degrees eccentricity, contrast=4%) for 8 s and then flashing a 20-30 ms high-contrast patch over it could elicit the perceptual disappearance of a subsequent low-contrast stimulus, whereas neither low-contrast adaptation nor high-contrast flash alone had any considerable effect (p<0.00001). In other experiments we found (a) suppressive components are phase-insensitive, (b) the effect transfers between eyes, (c) suppression is selective for orientation, and (d) the induction by the transient high-contrast Gabor patch could be transferred to another previously adapted location up to a few degrees. Results indicate synergy between contrast and adaptation through a non-linear interaction between rapid gain adjustment to transient change and adaptation to sustained spatial patterns. Findings are compatible with non-local mechanisms presumably at the cortical level.
