Contextual modulation is a fundamental feature of sensory processing, both on perceptual and on single-neuron level. When the diameter of a visual stimulus is increased, the firing rate of a cell typically first increases (summation field) and then decreases (surround field). Such an area summation function draws a comprehensive profile of the receptive field structure of a neuron, including areas outside the classical receptive field. We investigated area summation in human vision with psychophysics and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The stimuli were drifting sine wave gratings similar to those used in previous macaque single-cell area summation studies [corrected]. A model was developed to facilitate comparison of area summation in fMRI to area summation in psychophysics and single cells. The model consisted of units with an antagonistic receptive field structure found in single cells in the primary visual cortex. The receptive field centers of the model neurons were distributed in the region of the visual field covered by a single voxel. The measured area summation functions were qualitatively similar to earlier single-cell data. The model with parameters derived from psychophysics captured the spatial structure of the summation field in the primary visual cortex as measured with fMRI. The model also generalized to a novel situation in which the neural population was displaced from the stimulus center. The current study shows that contextual modulation arises from similar spatially antagonistic and overlapping excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms, both in single cells and in human vision.
Timing is critical for the effectiveness of a modulating surround signal. In this study, the optimal timing of a suppressing surround signal was measured psychophysically in human subjects. The perceived contrast of a fixated 1-deg circular patch of vertical sinusoidal grating (the target: 4 cpd, Michelson contrast 0.2) was measured as a function of the onset asynchrony between the target and an annular "surround" grating with the same orientation and spatial frequency. The contrast and area of the surround stimulus were varied parametrically. The suppressive signal peaked at earlier times the higher the surround contrast (0.1-0.4), following a function consistent with the contrast-dependence of retinal response dynamics. Increasing the area of the surround grating also moved peak suppression to earlier times. At ca. 2 deg annulus outer diameter the time to peak of the suppressive signal was shortest, although its amplitude grew with annulus area even beyond that. When both the contrast and the area of the centre and surround gratings were equal, suppression was maximal if the surround stimulus was presented ca. 5 ms before the target. Such a short delay of suppression is consistent with a neural implementation based on feedforward-feedback connections, but not with horizontal connections.
BackgroundWhen we are viewing natural scenes, every saccade abruptly changes both the mean luminance and the contrast structure falling on any given retinal location. Thus it would be useful if the two were independently encoded by the visual system, even when they change simultaneously. Recordings from single neurons in the cat visual system have suggested that contrast information may be quite independently represented in neural responses to simultaneous changes in contrast and luminance. Here we test to what extent this is true in human perception.Methodology/Principal FindingsSmall contrast stimuli were presented together with a 7-fold upward or downward step of mean luminance (between 185 and 1295 Td, corresponding to 14 and 98 cd/m2), either simultaneously or with various delays (50–800 ms). The perceived contrast of the target under the different conditions was measured with an adaptive staircase method. Over the contrast range 0.1–0.45, mainly subtractive attenuation was found. Perceived contrast decreased by 0.052±0.021 (N = 3) when target onset was simultaneous with the luminance increase. The attenuation subsided within 400 ms, and even faster after luminance decreases, where the effect was also smaller. The main results were robust against differences in target types and the size of the field over which luminance changed.Conclusions/SignificancePerceived contrast is attenuated mainly by a subtractive term when coincident with a luminance change. The effect is of ecologically relevant magnitude and duration; in other words, strict contrast constancy must often fail during normal human visual behaviour. Still, the relative robustness of the contrast signal is remarkable in view of the limited dynamic response range of retinal cones. We propose a conceptual model for how early retinal signalling may allow this.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.