Spillmann’s weaves are more resilient than Hermann’s grid

Abstract

In a classic Hermann grid display, faint and transient (illusory) spots are produced at the intersections of a white grid superimposed on a black background (or vice versa). In a variant of the Hermann grid developed by Spillmann and Levine (Spillmann, L., & Levine, J. (1971). Contrast enhancement in a Hermann grid with variable figure–ground ratio. Experimental Brain Research, 13, 547–559), the vertical and horizontal bars have different reflectance levels. In previous studies, the illusory spots in the Hermann and Spillmann and Levine grids have been treated analogously. Here, we focus on differences by introducing two types of ‘weaves’: one type consists of intertwined vertical and horizontal bars with the same luminance levels (hereinafter referred to as ‘equiluminant weaves’); the vertical bars in the other type of weave differ in luminance level from the horizontal bars (hereinafter referred to as ‘luminance-mismatched weaves’). The Hermann grid is a type of equiluminant weave, and the portion of the Spillmann and Levine grid in which the bars have different reflectance levels is similar to the luminance-mismatched weave. We demonstrate differences between illusory spots produced by luminance-mismatched weaves (and therefore Spillmann and Levine displays) and spots produced by equiluminant weaves (and therefore the Hermann grid): (1) low-pass equiluminant weaves create scintillating patterns, whereas low-pass luminance-mismatched weaves do not; (2) unlike spots for equiluminant weaves, the spots for the luminance-mismatched weaves are not abolished by jagged bars, wavy bars, thick bars, or orientation changes; (3) unlike the spots for equiluminant weaves, the spots for luminance-mismatched weaves occur foveally; and (4) unlike the spots for equiluminant weaves, luminance-mismatched weaves can be created with contrast variation (contrast–contrast, or 2nd-order weaves). We suggest three possible explanations for these results: (1) equiluminant weaves are just a liminal case among luminance-mismatched weaves; (2) the spots arise out of the co-activation of cortical simple cells and color-selective cells, where color-selective cells represent both hue and achromatic sensations; and (3) the spots for both equiluminant and luminance-mismatched weaves are present in high spatial frequency content, but the appearance or disappearance of the spots indicates the interplay between luminance and contrast responses at multiple spatial scales.