title: Texture segregation by motion under low luminance levels.
abstract: We examined the effect of average luminance level on texture segregation by motion. We determined the minimum presentation duration required for subjects to detect a target defined by motion direction against a moving background. The average luminance level and retinal position of the target were systematically varied. We found that the minimum presentation duration needed for texture segregation depends significantly on the average luminance level and on retinal position. The minimum presentation duration increased as the mean luminance decreased. At a very low (presumably scotopic) luminance level, the motion-defined target was never detected rapidly. Under scotopic conditions, the minimum presentation duration was shorter in the periphery than in a near foveal region when the task was simple detection of the target. When the task included identifying the shape of the target patch, however, the target presented near the fovea was identified faster at all luminance levels. These results suggest that the performance of texture segregation is constrained by the spatiotemporal characteristics of the early visual system.
authors.affiliation: NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan. tatsuto@apollo3.brl.ntt.co.jp
authors.forename: Tatsuto
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokosawa
authors.forename: Karen K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: De Valois
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology*; D003623:Dark Adaptation / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008029:Lighting; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*