The indirect McCollough effect: an examination of an associative account

It has been found that viewing, for example, a red-and-black vertical grating alternating with a green homogeneous field produces a color aftereffect--a McCollough effect--on a black-and-white vertical grating (i.e., green). Viewing such colored patterns also produces an aftereffect on a noninduced horizontal grating (i.e., pink)--the indirect McCollough effect. Humphrey, Dodwell, and Emerson (1989) argued that the indirect McCollough effect is caused by opponent properties of the visual system that organize the processing of contour and color along contrasting, probably orthogonal, dimensions. Recently, however, their interpretation of the indirect McCollough effect has been challenged by some findings of Eissenberg, Allan, Siegel, and Petrov (1995). These researchers have proposed that the indirect McCollough effect, like the McCollough effect, can be explained by associative principles. The results reported here question crucial aspects of the hypothesis of Eissenberg et al.