Storage of spatially specific threshold elevation.
The decay of several visual aftereffects may be prolonged by interposing a period of light-free or pattern-free viewing between adaptation and testing. We demonstrate that this storage phenomenon can be observed using the threshold elevation aftereffect that follows inspection of a high-contrast grating pattern. Control experiments comparing thresholds for vertical and horizontal gratings after adaptation to a vertical grating reveal that the stored aftereffect, like its unstored counterpart, is pattern-selective. Storage is equally pronounced with stimuli that are detected by pattern-analyzing or movement-analyzing visual channels. Unlike other aftereffects, the threshold-elevation aftereffect requires that the storage period be light-free; no storage is seen if a blank field is inspected between adaptation and testing. The results are discussed with respect to the nature of visual aftereffects, and possible cognitive or physiological models of storage.
D005366:Figural Aftereffect / Q000502:physiology; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology