Summation of Contrast in Perceived Form from Texture

Abstract

The relative contrast of two superimposed triangles formed by truncated sinusoidal gratings determines which appears more salient. We have previously reported that the saliency of one triangle is selectively enhanced by superimposing a third grating of similar frequency but different orientation. We now ask how the contrasts of the three gratings combine to determine saliency. Stimuli were two superimposed isosceles triangles, formed by overlaying sharply truncated patches of a sinusoidal grating, one at 1.5 cycles deg−1 tilted +45°, the other at 6 cycles deg−1, tilted −45° from vertical. The sharpest-angle apexes pointed in opposite directions (left or right). Contrasts of the gratings were initially adjusted to yield equal performance when observers chose whether the more salient target pointed left or right following a brief (400 ms) monocular exposure. In each test condition a third grating of vertical orientation (spatial frequency 1.5, 3, or 6 cycles deg−1) was added to the entire stimulus at one of six contrast levels ranging from near threshold to 10 × threshold. The point of equal saliency was re-determined from psychometric functions by varying the contrast of one triangle in a 2AFC staircase procedure. The saliency of each triangle was enhanced when the third grating was matched in frequency, but no effect occurred when the third grating differed by an octave (eg was 3 cycles deg−1). Beyond some threshold value of the third grating contrast, the contrast needed to reinstate equal salience was found to be inversely proportional to the contrast of the third grating. Our results are in agreement with the characteristics of higher-level mechanisms that mediate spatial-grain and/or pattern contrast discrimination, and suggest that form-from-texture mechanisms sum component contrasts linearly over a wide range of orientations within a narrow frequency band.