Cooperativity, priming, and 3-D surface detection from optic flow.
Three experiments were conducted to determine whether the mechanisms responsible for the detection of three-dimensional (3-D) surfaces from optic flow operate in a cooperative manner. The first experiment was conducted to determine whether a hysteresis effect occurs for 3-D surface detection from optic flow. The results of the first experiment demonstrated a hysteresis effect with lower thresholds occurring for decreasing texture density than for increasing texture density. The second experiment used a priming methodology to determine whether this form of cooperativity was based on preactivation of shear detectors or preactivation of 2-D motion detectors. The results suggest that only shear detectors were primed. The third experiment utilized a similar methodology to determine whether a surface representation would produce a priming effect. We found no evidence that the priming effect found in the second experiment was the result of preactivation of a generic representation of the test stimuli. The results of the experiments, considered together, suggest priming of the mechanisms responsible for recovering shear.
Atchley
P
P
University of California, Riverside, USA.
Andersen
G J
GJ
Wuestefeld
A P
AP
D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*