title: Right-hemisphere superiority in the discrimination of spatial phase.
abstract: Visual field differences have been investigated in various detection and discrimination tasks for simple sinusoidal gratings or for complex gratings composed of two sinusoids of spatial frequencies f and 3f. Sinusoidal gratings were employed to evaluate contrast sensitivity, subthreshold summation effects, aftereffects of adaptation to a high-contrast grating, and spatial-frequency discrimination. The tasks with complex gratings were detection of the 3f component in the presence of a high-contrast f component and spatial-phase discrimination. The stimuli were presented either in the left or in the right visual hemifield. The results indicate a lack of lateralization for detection and spatial-frequency discrimination of sinusoidal gratings, and for the bandwidth of subthreshold summation effects and adaptation aftereffects, whereas the detection of the 3f component in the presence of a high-contrast f component, as well as spatial-phase discrimination of f +3f gratings, show a left-field advantage. This suggests a right-hemisphere superiority in the processing of spatial phase.
mesh_terms: D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009799:Ocular Physiological Phenomena; D011594:Psychometrics; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014794:Visual Fields