Abstract
Prevalent theories of pattern vision postulate mechanisms selectively sensitive to spatial frequency and position but not to contrast. Decreased performance in the detection of visual stimuli was found when the observer was uncertain about the spatial frequency or spatial position of a patch of sinusoidal grating but not when he was uncertain about contrast. The uncertainty effects were consistent with multiple-band models in which the observer is able to monitor perfectly all relevant mechanisms. Performance deteriorates when the observer must monitor more mechanisms, because these mechanisms are noisy and give rise to false alarms. This consistency is further evidence that the spatial-frequency and spatial-position mechanisms are noisy, a conclusion previously suggested by the "probability summation" demonstrated in the thresholds for compound stimuli. Somewhat paradoxically, the Quick pooling model, which quantitatively accounts for the amount of probability summation in pattern thresholds, predicts no effects of uncertainty. It cannot, therefore, be strictly correct.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ball, K., &Sekuler, R. Models of stimulus uncertainty in motion perception.Psychological Review, 1980,17, 435–469.
Ball, K., &Sekulbr, R. Cues reduce direction uncertainty and enhance motion detection.Perception & Psychophysics, 1981,30, 119–128.
Bergen, J. R., Wilson, H. R., &Cowan, J. D. Further evidence for four mechanisms mediating vision at threshold: Sensitivities to complex gratings and aperiodic stimuli.Journal of the Optical Society of America, 1979,69, 1580-l586.
Blakemore, C., &Campbell, F. W. On the existence of neurones in the human visual system selectively sensitive to the orientation and size of retinal images.Journal of Physiology (London), 1969,203, 237–260.
Cohn, T. E., &Lasley, D. J. Detectability of a luminance increment: Effect of spatial uncertainty.Journal of the Optical Society of America, 1974,64, 1715–1719.
Creelman, C. D. Detection of signals of uncertain frequency.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1960,31, 805–810.
Davis, E. T. Allocation of attention: Uncertainty effects when monitoring one or two visual gratings of noncontiguous spatial frequencies.Perception &Psychophysics, 1981,19, 618–622.
Davis, E. T., &Graham, N. Spatial frequency uncertainty effects in the detection of sinusoidal gratings.Vision Research, 1981,l1, 705–712.
Egeth, H. Attention and preattention, In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learningand motivation (Vol. 11). New York: Academic Press, 1977.
Erderlyi, M. H. A new look at the new look: Perceptual defense and vigilance.Psychological Review, 1974,81, 1–25.
Gilllom, J. D., &Mills, W. M. Information extraction from contralateral cues in the detection of signals of uncertain frequency.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1976,59, 1428–1433.
Graham, N. Visual detection of aperiodic spatial stimuli by probability summation among narrowband channels.Vision Research, 1977,17, 637–682.
Graham, N. The visual system does a crude Fourier analysis of patterns. In S. Grossberg (Ed.),Mathematical psychology and psychophysiology (SIAM-AMS Proceedings; Vol. 13). Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society, 1981.
Graham, N., &Nachmias, J. Detection of grating patterns containing two spatial frequencies: A comparison of single channel and multiple-channels models.Vision Research, 1971, 11,251–259.
Graham, N., Robson, J. G., &Nachmias, J. Grating summation in fovea and periphery.Vision Research, 1978,18, 815–825.
Green, D. M.An introduction to hearing. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1976.
Green, D. M., &Luce, R. D. Variability of magnitude estimates: A timing theory analysis.Perception & Psychophysics, 1974,15, 291–300.
Green, D. M., &Swets, J. A.Signal detection theory and psychophysics. New York: Wiley, 1966.
Green, D. M., &Weber, D. L. Detection of temporally uncertain signals.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1980,67, 1304–1311.
Hirsch, J., Hylton, R., &Graham, N. Simultaneous recognition of two spatial-frequency components.Vision Research, 1982,22, 365–375.
Kowler, E., &Steinman, R. M. The effect of expectations on slow oculomotor control. I. Periodic target steps.Vision Research, 1979,19, 619–632. (a)
Kowler, E., &Steinman, R. M. The effect of expectations on slow oculomotor control. II. Single target displacements.Vision Research, 1979,19, 633–647. (b)
Lappin, J. S., &Staller, J. D. Prior knowledge does not facilitate the perceptual organization of dynamic random-dot patterns.Perception &Psychophysics, 1981,19, 445–456.
Lappin, J. S., &Uttal, W. R. Does prior knowledge facilitate the detection of visual targets in random noise?Perception & Psychophysics, 1976,20, 367–374.
Luce, R. D., Green, D. M., &Weber, D. L. Attention bands in absolute identification.Perception & Psychophysics, 1976,20, 49–54.
Mostafavi, H., &Sakrison, D. J. Structure and properties of a single channel in the human visual system.Vision Research, 1976,16, 957–968.
Murphy, B. J., Kowler, E., &Steinman, R. M. Slow oculomotor control in the presence of moving backgrounds.Vision Research, 1975,15, 1263–1268.
Nachmias, J. On the psychometric function for contrast detection.Vision Research, 1981,11, 215–223.
Nolte, L. W., &Jaarsma, D. More on the detection of one of M orthogonal signals.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1967,41, 497–505.
Pantle, A., &Sekuler, R. Size-detecting mechanisms in human vision.Science, 1968,161, 1146–1148.
Pelli, D. G. The effect of uncertainty: Detecting a signal at one of ten-thousand times and places.In Supplement to Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 1981,20, 3, 178.
Posner, M. I.Chronometric explorations of mind. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1978.
Posner, M. I., Snyder, C. R. R., &Davidson, B. J. Attention and the detection of signals.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1980,109, 160–174.
Quick, R. F. A vector-magnitude model for contrast detection.Kybernetik, 1974,16, 65–67.
Quick, R. F., Mullins, W. W., &Reichert, T. A. Spatial summation effects on two-component grating thresholds.Journal of the Optical Society of America, 1978,68, 116–121.
Robson, J. G., &Graham, N. Probability summation and regional variation in contrast sensitivity across the visual field.Vision Research, 1981,11, 409–418.
Sekuler, R., Pantle, A., &Levinson, E. Physiological basis of motion perception. In R. Held, H. W. Leibowitz, & H. L. Teuber (Eds.),Handbook of sensory physiology (Vol. VIII): Perception, New York: Springer, 1978.
Shaw, M. Identifying attentional and decision-making components in information processing. In R. S. Nickerson (Ed.),Attention and performance VIII. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1980.
Swets, J. A.Signal detection and recognition by human observers. New York: Wiley, 1964.
Swets, J. A., &Kristofferson, A. B. Attention.Annual Review of Psychology, 1970,11, 339–366.
Swets, J. A., &Sewall, S. T. Stimulus vs response uncertainty in recognition.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1961,33, 1586–1592.
Watson, A. B. Summation of grating patches indicates many types of detector at one retinal location.Vision Research, 1982,22, 17–26.
Wilson, H. R., &Bergen, J. R. A four mechanism model for threshold spatial vision.Vision Research, 1979,19, 19–32.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was partially supported by NSF Grant BNS-7618839 to Nonna Graham.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Davis, E.T., Kramer, P. & Graham, N. Uncertainty about spatial frequency, spatial position, or contrast of visual patterns. Perception & Psychophysics 33, 20–28 (1983). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205862
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205862