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Loss of spatial phase relationships in extrafoveal vision

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Abstract

Objects in peripheral vision are not simply blurred but lack quality of form1. Assuming that the visual system performs a (patchwise) Fourier analysis of the retinal image (for review see ref. 2), it has been suggested that this disadvantage of peripheral vision may be due to the inability to encode properly spatial phase relationships3–5. This is of great interest for neurological research as certain visual pathologies imply alterations of perceived form6,7. Previous attempts at measuring phase sensitivities failed to distinguish between the detection of phase-related changes in contrast and phase coding in the visual system8. We separated these processing strategies by applying the iso-second-order texture paradigm of Julesz5 to the discrimination of compound gratings. Our results, reported here, show that the energy detection properties of both foveal and peripheral vision are comparable, however, independently of scale, peripheral vision ignores the relative position of image components.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Psychology, University of Munich, Goethestrasse 31, D-8000, München, 2, FRG

    Ingo Rentschler & Bernhard Treutwein

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  1. Ingo Rentschler
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  2. Bernhard Treutwein
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Rentschler, I., Treutwein, B. Loss of spatial phase relationships in extrafoveal vision. Nature 313, 308–310 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/313308a0

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