Persistence of simple and contingent motion aftereffects

Abstract

Jones and Holding (1975) showed that orientation-contingent color aftereffects can persist for at least 3 months, but are depleted by repeated testing. We applied the same paradigm to a simple motion aftereffect (MAE) and found that it can persist for up to 1 week and is only slightly diminished by testing. It was further found that simple MAEs appear to persist longer than color-contingent MAEs. although when procedures for inducing and measuring both kinds of aftereffect are equalized, contingent MAEs last longer. Finally, no tendency was found for color-contingent MAEs to diminish with repeated testing. Although both simple and color-contingent MAEs can be relatively persistent, there are certain differences between them. Furthermore, contingent aftereffects should not be considered interchangeable, as there appear to be large differences in the persistence of orientation-contingent color aftereffect and color-contingent MAEs.187

Evidence against saturation of contrast adaptation in the human visual system

“…The long time course of contrast adaptation is in line with recent suggestions that simple and contingent aftereffects do not differ as radically as was previously supposed in that their time courses can be similar (Favreau, 1979;Rose & Lowe, 1982). However, quantitative modeling of the mechanisms that determine the time courses of these two types of aftereffect is not easy, because high-contrast stimuli adapt many "channels," to various relative extents.…”

As the cube turns: Evidence for two processes in the perception of a dynamic reversible figure

“…Furthermore, if a passive process of transient neural fatigue is the dominant process underlying the illusion, then there should be no difference in total reversals reported over the six 2-min blocks in a single session. However, if long-lasting adaptation (fatigue) is the basis for the effect, analogous to what several researchers have reported for various visual aftereffects (e.g., Favreau, 1979;Frome, Harris, & Levinson, 1975;Hansel & Mahmud, 1978), then a complete return to baseline from one viewing period to the next within a session is not predicted; but a return to baseline from one weekly session to the next would be expected. Hence, withirt a fatigue model, it is predicted that a nearly identical pattern of reversals will occur either from each 2-min block to another or from each weekly session to the next, depending upon the duration of the fatigue established by the adaptation.…”

Overprediction and blocking in the McCollough aftereffect

“…Contingent AEs, involving the pairwise covariation between stimulus dimensions, occur less often and therefore are potentially more informative. The buildup and decay times for contingent AEs are slower than for simple AEs, indicating higher order adaptation ; see also Favreau, 1979). Barlow (1985) has argued that the main function of the cortex is to note "suspicious coincidences" in its afferent input as a means of gaining knowledge about nonrandom, causally related features of the environment.…”