title: Temporal properties of the chromatic and achromatic Craik-O'Brien-Cornsweet effect.
abstract: The Craik-O'Brien-Cornsweet effect (COCE) is a visual illusion in which a difference in brightness is observed between two regions of equal luminance separated by a contrast edge with opposite luminance gradients on each side. The COCE also occurs with chromatic contrasts. It has been hypothesized that the COCE is mediated by a cortical filling-in process. According to the filling-in hypothesis, the filling-in or spreading of neural activity proceeds at finite speed, and therefore exhibits some temporal tuning as a function of the width of the area to be filled in. In the present study, observers varied the temporal frequency of a COC grating to determine the maximum temporal frequency at which a temporal modulation of brightness or color was perceived. In the achromatic COCE, contours were modulated along the luminance axis of the DKL color space; in the chromatic COCE, contours were modulated either along the L-M or the S-(L+M) axis. For the achromatic condition, the critical temporal frequency at which the COCE was still perceived had the shape of an inverted U, inconsistent with the filling-in hypothesis: the critical temporal frequency increased with increasing spatial frequency only up to 0.2cycles/deg, but then decreased for higher spatial frequencies. For the chromatic COCE, the critical temporal frequency decreased with increasing spatial frequency, which is also inconsistent with filling-in. Thus, the results of the present study are inconsistent with the idea that the temporal dynamics of the COCE, both achromatic and chromatic, are due to filling-in. Instead, our results are consistent with the spatial filtering properties of the luminance and chromatic systems.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung Allgemeine Psychologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10F, 35394 Giessen, Germany. Frederic.Devinck@psychol.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Devinck
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Karl R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Gegenfurtner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005366:Figural Aftereffect; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008029:Lighting; D009903:Optical Illusions; D011601:Psychophysics; D013997:Time Factors