Journal
JOURNAL OF VISION
Volume 13, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
ASSOC RESEARCH VISION OPHTHALMOLOGY INC
DOI: 10.1167/13.2.6
Keywords
adaptation; salience; spatial context; temporal context; visual search; orientation discrimination
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [EY016774]
- Army Research Office [58760LS]
- Research to Prevent Blindness
- NIH MSTP [T32-GM007288]
- NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE [R01EY016774] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GENERAL MEDICAL SCIENCES [T32GM007288] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Temporal context, or adaptation, profoundly affects visual perception. Despite the strength and prevalence of adaptation effects, their functional role in visual processing remains unclear. The effects of spatial context and their functional role are better understood: these effects highlight features that differ from their surroundings and determine stimulus salience. Similarities in the perceptual and physiological effects of spatial and temporal context raise the possibility that they serve similar functions. We therefore tested the possibility that adaptation can enhance stimulus salience. We measured the effects of prolonged (40 s) adaptation to a counterphase grating on performance in a search task in which targets were defined by an orientation offset relative to a background of distracters. We found that, for targets with small orientation offsets, adaptation reduced reaction times and decreased the number of saccades made to find targets. Our results provide evidence that adaptation may function to highlight features that differ from the temporal context in which they are embedded.
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