Global factors generate the McCollough effect

It has recently been demonstrated that certain globally orthogonal pattern pairs derived from Hoffman's Lie Transformation Group Model of Neuropsychology (LTG/NP) are sufficient to generate McCollough effects (pattern-contingent colour aftereffects: PCCAES). We now provide evidence that the global factors postulated to generate these particular PCCAEs are also necessary. In Experiment 1 observers made controlled eye movements over the induction patterns and subsequently showed PCCAEs which were as strong as those obtained under central fixation. The induction process therefore did not depend on selectively adapting local oriented and colour-specific edge detectors. The global structure of the inducing patterns appears to be a necessary component of the generation of such aftereffects. In Experiment 2, a number of pattern pairs having various degrees of global organization were used as induction patterns, but in every case there was an equal degree of local orthogonality. Local orthogonality was shown not to be sufficient to induce PCCAEs, but global orthogonality was. These results lend strong support to the notion that McCollough-type PCCAEs are generated in a structure of the visual system somewhat above the level of strictly local operations, whether defined as edge and bar detectors or, equivalently, as units selectively tuned to different spatial frequencies and orientations. The global nature of the effects, and the particular pattern structures involved, lead us to suggest that Hoffman's LTG/NP provides a sound basis for explaining our findings.