Common mechanisms for 2D tilt and 3D slant after-effects

Abstract

By presenting oriented Gabor patches either monocularly or binocularly, we dissociated retinal orientation from perceived tilt and perceived slant. After adapting to binocular patches, with zero apparent tilt and non-zero slant, small tilt after-effects (TAEs) and large slant after-effects (SAE) were measured. Adapting to monocular patches with non-zero tilt and zero slant produced large TAEs and smaller SAEs. This pattern of results suggests that a common, low-level adaptation to monocular orientation is involved in slant and tilt after-effects. However, the incomplete transfer between slant and tilt makes it clear that higher-level adaptation is also involved, perhaps at the level of surface representation.