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Electrophysiological priming effects confirm that the extrastriate symmetry network is not gated by luminance polarity
Author(s) -
Makin Alexis D. J.,
Piovesan Andrea,
TysonCarr John,
Rampone Giulia,
Derpsch Yiovanna,
Bertamini Marco
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/ejn.14966
Subject(s) - luminance , extrastriate cortex , psychology , polarity (international relations) , priming (agriculture) , neuroscience , physics , chemistry , optics , visual cortex , biology , biochemistry , germination , botany , cell
Abstract It is known that the extrastriate cortex is activated by visual symmetry. This activation generates an ERP component called the Sustained Posterior Negativity (SPN). SPN amplitude increases (i.e., becomes more negative) with repeated presentations. We exploited this SPN priming effect to test whether the extrastriate symmetry response is gated by element luminance polarity. On each trial, participants observed three stimuli (patterns of dots) in rapid succession (500 ms. with 200 ms. gaps). The patterns were either symmetrical or random. The dot elements were either black or white on a grey background. The triplet sequences either showed repeated luminance (black > black > black, or white > white > white) or changing luminance (black > white > black, or white > black > white). As predicted, SPN priming was comparable in repeated and changing luminance conditions. Therefore, symmetry with black elements is not processed independently from symmetry with white elements. Source waveform analysis confirmed that this priming happened within the extrastriate symmetry network. We conclude that the network pools information across luminance polarity channels.