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Is spatial adaptation an after‐effect of prolonged inhibition?
Author(s) -
Dealy R. S.,
Tolhurst D. J.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.1974.sp010652
Subject(s) - elevation (ballistics) , grating , adaptation (eye) , spatial frequency , contrast (vision) , optics , physics , astronomy
1. The elevation of the thresholds for sinusoidal gratings of 4 c/deg and 6·7 c/deg was examined after adapting to gratings of 4 c/deg. Threshold elevation was determined as a function of the adapting contrast. 2. It was confirmed that, when the adapting and testing spatial‐frequencies were the same, the threshold elevation curve extrapolated to zero elevation at an adapting contrast equal to the pre‐adaptation threshold for the adapting grating. 3. It was found that the threshold elevation curve for 6·7 c/deg gratings also extrapolated to zero elevation at the pre‐adaptation threshold for the adapting grating, even though the testing and adapting frequencies were different. 4. It is argued that the latter result shows that adaptation is not simply an after‐effect of prolonged excitation of a channel. Threshold elevation curves may represent the bandwidths of inhibitory interactions between channels.