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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments
Published on: March 18, 2019
[Visual mechanisms of recognition of vanishing figures]
Abstract:
The acuity test Landolt C's with a complex contour imitating various kinds of high-pass spatial frequency filtering generated as a printed visual acuity charts with a grey background were studied with regard to recognition thresholds. Comparisons were made for recognition thresholds with different complex contours. When the vanishing optotypes are out of focus, their image on the retina fades rapidly into the grey background, rendering them invisible rather than merely blurred as in the standard chart. The data obtained confirm that the recognition distance depends on physical property of complex contour profile and show the importance of the Landolt C spatial frequency spectrum for recognition of different types of the complex contour.
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