title: A normative framework for the study of second-order sensitivity in vision.
abstract: While the contrast sensitivity approach has been successful in evaluating the processing of first-order stimuli, there is a need to develop comparable ways of assessing second-order vision. Our purpose here is to establish normative data on second-order contrast-, orientation-, and motion-modulation sensitivity in humans. We propose a unified framework, applying the quick contrast sensitivity function (qCSF) method, which was recently developed for the rapid measurement of contrast sensitivity across the full spatial-frequency range (Lesmes, Lu, Baek, & Albright, 2010), to measure both first- and second-order sensitivity functions. We first show that the qCSF methodology can be successfully adapted to different kinds of first- and second-order measurements. We provide a normative dataset for both first- and second-order sensitivity, and we show that the sensitivity to all these stimuli is equal in the two eyes. Our results confirm some strong differences between first- and second-order processing, in accordance with the classical filter-rectify-filter model. They suggest a common contrast detection mechanism but different second-order mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: McGill Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal PQ, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reynaud
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases and School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, People's Republic of ChinaState Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: McGill Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal PQ, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Hess
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011601:Psychophysics; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: contrast; first-order; luminance; motion; orientation; qCSF; second-order; sensitivity function