Reference Stimulus Research Articles

Multidimensional Fechnerian Scaling: Pairwise Comparisons, Regular Minimality, and Nonconstant Self-Similarity

Stimuli presented pairwise for same–different judgments belong to two distinct observation areas (different time intervals and/or locations). To reflect this fact the underlying assumptions of multidimensional Fechnerian scaling (MDFS) have to be modified, the most important modification being the inclusion of the requirement that the discrimination probability functions possess regular minima. This means that the probability with which a fixed stimulus in one observation area (a reference) is discriminated from stimuli belonging to another observation area reaches its minimum when the two stimuli are identical (following, if necessary, an appropriate transformation of the stimulus measurements in one of the two observation areas). The remaining modifications of the underlying assumptions are rather straightforward, their main outcome being that each of the two observation areas has its own Fechnerian metric induced by a metric function obtained in accordance with the regular variation version of MDFS. It turns out that the regular minimality requirement, when combined with the empirical fact of nonconstant self-similarity (which means that the minimum level of the discrimination probability function for a fixed reference stimulus is generally different for different reference stimuli), imposes rigid constraints on the interdependence between discrimination probabilities and metric functions within each of the observation areas and on the interdependence between Fechnerian metrics and metric functions belonging to different observation areas. In particular, it turns out that the psychometric order of the stimulus space cannot exceed 1.

Direct magnitude estimates of speech intelligibility in dysarthria: effects of a chosen standard.

Direct magnitude estimation (DME) has been used frequently as a perceptual scaling technique in studies of the speech intelligibility of persons with speech disorders. The technique is typically used with a standard, or reference stimulus, chosen as a good exemplar of "midrange" intelligibility. In several published studies, the standard has been chosen subjectively, usually on the basis of the expertise of the investigators. The current experiment demonstrates that a fixed set of sentence-level utterances, obtained from 4 individuals with dysarthria (2 with Parkinson disease, 2 with traumatic brain injury) as well as 3 neurologically normal speakers, is scaled differently depending on the identity of the standard. Four different standards were used in the main experiment, three of which were judged qualitatively in two independent evaluations to be good exemplars of midrange intelligibility. Acoustic analyses did not reveal obvious differences between these four standards but suggested that the standard with the worst-scaled intelligibility had much poorer voice source characteristics compared to the other three standards. Results are discussed in terms of possible standardization of midrange intelligibility exemplars for DME experiments.

Hemispheric asymmetry in visual discrimination and memory: ERP evidence for the spatial frequency hypothesis.

Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during delayed discrimination of simple spatial frequency gratings in the high and low frequency bands. Analyses of the waveforms N170, P220, N310, P400, and slow wave (SW) indicated significant and regionally specific interaction of spatial frequency and hemisphere for N170 amplitude. This interaction was independent of memory conditions, and appeared to be in the opposite direction of what is predicted by the spatial frequency model of hemispheric asymmetry. Additional interactions between spatial frequency and hemisphere were observed for N310 in the encoding process (reference stimulus) and for SW in the retrieval process (test stimulus). The general hypothesis of an interaction of spatial frequency and hemisphere in visual cognition is supported, but the findings indicate caution in interpreting an increase in physiological measures as an indication of more efficient brain processing. Moreover, several stages of information processing may contribute to the asymmetry observed in behavioral studies, and hemispheric balance may change dynamically during the time course of processing.

An error in brightness matching associated with the application of dimming

This paper discusses requirements for good experimental design in brightness matching tests. Experimental and null-condition data from paired-comparison brightness matching shows a systematic bias; a tendency for the stimulus to which observers apply dimming to be set to an illuminance below that of the reference stimulus. The error is small but statistically significant.

Chromatic Spatial Summation at Equiluminance

The effect of spatial summation on chromatic detection at suprathreshold levels for the red-green and yellow-blue chromatic opponent mechanisms has been studied using simple reaction time (RT) as a measurement of the response. We varied the target size in the experiments from 8 min of arc in diameter to 10 deg, and the hue-substitution paradigm was adopted to generate only chromatic changes in the cone input. Equiluminant stimuli were distributed along three tritan and three red-green confusion lines. Three reference stimuli were chosen as both reference and adapting stimuli, in this case to determine whether the chromatic adaptation affected the spatial summation. The results showed that the mean value of RT at a constant cone-input variation, either of the L #x2212; 2M channel or of the S #x2212; (L #x002B; M) channel, against the target size decreased until a stimulus size was reached, the RT being constant for greater sizes. The spatial summation was fulfilled for a maximum target size which was less for the L #x2212; 2M channel than for the S #x2212; (L #x002B; M) channel, this size decreasing as the cone-input variation rose. Furthermore, there was no spatial summation for high-enough variations in the cone input. In addition, the chromatic mechanisms appear to organize their spatial integration with the adapting level.

Internal reference frames for representation and storage of visual information: the role of gravity.

Experimental studies of visual mechanisms suggest that the CNS represents image information with respect to preferred horizontal and vertical axes, as shown by a phenomenon known as the “oblique effect”. In the current study we used this effect to evaluate the influence of gravity on the representation and storage of visual orientation information. Subjects performed a psychophysical task in which a visually-presented stimulus line was aligned with the remembered orientation of a reference stimulus line presented moments before. The experiments were made on 5 cosmonauts during orbital space flight and additionally on 13 subjects in conditions of normal gravity with a tilting chair. Data were analyzed with respect to response variability and timing. On earth, these measurements for this task show a distinct preference for horizontally and vertically oriented stimuli when the body and gravitational axes were aligned. This preference was markedly decreased or disappeared when the body axis was tilted with respect to gravity; this effect was not connected with ocular counter-rolling nor could we find a preference of any other intermediate axis between the gravity and body aligned axes. On the other hand, the preference for vertical and horizontal axes was maintained for tests performed in microgravity over the course of a 6 month flight, starting from flight day 6. We concluded that subjects normally process visual orientation information in a multi-modal reference frame that combines both proprioceptive and gravitational cues when both are available, but that a proprioceptive reference frame is sufficient for this task in the absence of gravity after a short period of adaptation. Some of the results from this study have been previously published in a preliminary report [7].

Simple reaction time to chromatic changes along L&M‐constant and S‐constant cone axes

AbstractThe present study uses simple reaction time (RT) to examine the temporal response to chromatic changes of the red‐green (L‐2M) and yellow‐blue (S‐(L+M)) chromatic opponent channels. The hue‐substitution method was adopted to negate the luminance channel and generate changes in the chromatic input. The equiluminant stimuli were distributed along three tritanopic and three red‐green confusion lines. RTs were measured at equiluminance from three reference stimuli with chromatic changes occurring in either the tritan or red‐green directions. These reference stimuli also allowed evaluation of the influence of chromatic adaptation level on RT. The results showed that the mean value of RT, for the cone‐input variation either of the L‐2M channel (S‐constant cone axis) or of the S‐(L+M) channel (L&M‐constant cone axis), was described by a similar law as for luminance variations (Piéron's law). Then, the sensitivity of the two channels for chromatic changes was equalized to study their relative response speed. In addition, for both axes, an increase in the chromatic adaptation level lengthens response delay. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl, 26, 223–233, 2001

Proanthocyanidins and related compounds: antileishmanial activity and modulatory effects on nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-alpha-release in the murine macrophage-like cell line RAW 264.7.

A series of 17 proanthocyanidins and structurally related compounds was tested for activity against Leishmania donovani amastigotes and promastigotes in vitro. Most of the polyphenols significantly inhibited the intracellular survival of L. donovani amastigotes (EC50 0.8-10.6 nM) when compared with the antileishmanial drug Pentostam (EC50 10.6 nM), but all were inactive against the extracellular form (EC50 7.8 to >86 nM). Noteworthy is that all compounds exhibited only moderate or no cytotoxicity against the murine host cells (EC50 7.8 to >56 nM; >25 microg/ml). These polyphenols were further evaluated for immunomodulatory effects on macrophage functions, including release of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) and interferon (IFN)-like properties using several functional assays. The results showed that all compounds induced murine RAW 264.7 cells only moderately to release NO (7-26 microM) relative to the reference stimulus IFN-gamma/LPS (119 microM). The TNF-inducing potential of the polyphenols producing 50% lysis in murine L929 cells ranged from absent to 138 U/ml at the host cell subtoxic concentration of 50 microg/ml. The highest TNF-inducing activity was associated with those flavan-3-ols with galloyl groups (98-127 U/ml). For proanthocyanidins, it appeared that an increase in the flavanyl chain length did not enhance the induction of TNF-release (32-86 U/ml and below detection limits for oligomers and polymers, respectively). With interferon-like activities, phylloflavan and a prodelphinidin polymer showed appreciable cytoprotective effects, as reflected by the inhibition of the cytopathic effect of encephalomyocarditis virus on L929 fibroblast cells (38 and 36 U/ml, respectively). All remaining compounds displayed only negligible or moderate protective effects at subtoxic concentrations up to 25 microg/ml (<5 to 12 U/ml). These results indicate that proanthocyanidins and related compounds have favorable antileishmanial activity in vitro and might be considered as beneficial immunological response modifiers provided there are no bioavailability problems.

Manipulating the "straightness" and "curvature" of patterns of interaural cross correlation affects listeners' sensitivity to changes in interaural delay.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that stimuli characterized by "straight" trajectories of their patterns of cross correlation foster greater sensitivity to changes in interaural temporal disparities (ITDs) than do stimuli characterized by more "curved" trajectories of their patterns of cross correlation. To do so, sensitivity to changes in ITD was measured, as a function of duration, using a set of "reference" stimuli that yielded differing relative amounts of straightness within their patterns of cross correlation while keeping the dominant trajectory at or near midline. The relative amounts of straightness were manipulated by employing specific combinations of bandwidth, ITD, and interaural phase disparity (IPD) of Gaussian noises centered at 500 Hz. The results were consistent with expectations in that the patterning of the threshold ITDs revealed increasingly poorer sensitivity as greater and greater curvature was imposed on the dominant, "midline," trajectory. The variations in threshold ITD across the stimulus conditions can be accounted for quite well quantitatively by assuming either that the listeners based their judgments on changes in the position of the most central peak of the cross-correlation function or that they based their judgments on changes in the centroid of a second-level cross-correlation function. In a second experiment, binaural detection was measured using a subset of the reference stimuli as maskers. As expected, sensitivity was poorest with the maskers characterized by the greatest curvature, which were also those having the lowest interaural correlation.

Erratum

Perception29(9) 1087 In the abstract of the paper “Discrimination of spectrally blended natural images: Optimisation of the human visual system for encoding natural images” by David J Tolhurst and Yoav Tadmor the last line has been omitted. The complete abstract is printed below: Abstract. We have developed a protocol for testing experimentally the hypothesis that the human visual system is optimised for making visual discriminations amongst natural scenes.Visual stimuli were made by gradual blending of the Fourier spectra of digitised photographs of natural scenes. The statistics of the stimuli were made unnatural to varying degrees by changing the overall slopes of the amplitude spectra of the stimuli. Thresholds were measured for discriminating small amounts of spectral blending at different spectral slopes. We found that thresholds were lowest when the spectral slope was natural; thresholds were increased when the slopes were either shallower or steeper than natural. A number of spurious cues were considered, such as differences in mean luminance or overall spectral power or contrast between test and reference stimuli. Control experiments were performed to remove such spurious cues, and the discrimination thresholds were still lowest for stimuli that were most natural. Thus, these experiments do provide experimental support for the idea that human vision and the human visual system are optimised for processing natural visual information.

Discrimination of spectrally blended natural images: optimisation of the human visual system for encoding natural images.

We have developed a protocol for testing experimentally the hypothesis that the human visual system is optimised for making visual discriminations amongst natural scenes. Visual stimuli were made by gradual blending of the Fourier spectra of digitised photographs of natural scenes. The statistics of the stimuli were made unnatural to varying degrees by changing the overall slopes of the amplitude spectra of the stimuli. Thresholds were measured for discriminating small amounts of spectral blending at different spectral slopes. We found that thresholds were lowest when the spectral slope was natural; thresholds were increased when the slopes were either shallower or steeper than natural. A number of spurious cues were considered, such as differences in mean luminance or overall spectral power or contrast between test and reference stimuli. Control experiments were performed to remove such spurious cues, and the discrimination thresholds were still lowest for stimuli that were most natural. Thus, these experiments do provide experimental support for the idea that human vision and the human visual system are optimised for processing natural visual information [corrected].

A new approach to the study of ocular chromatic aberrations

We measured the ocular wavefront aberration at six different visible wavelengths (between 450 and 650 nm) in three subjects, using a spatially resolved refractometer. In this technique, the angular deviation of light rays entering the pupil at different locations is measured with respect to a target viewed through a centered pupil. Fits of the data at each wavelength to Zernike polynomials were used to estimate the change of defocus with wavelength (longitudinal chromatic aberration, LCA) and the wavelength-dependence of the ocular aberrations. Measured LCA was in good agreement with the literature. In most cases the wavefront aberration increased slightly with wavelength. The angular deviations from the reference stimulus measured using a magenta filter allowed us to estimate the achromatic axis and both optical and perceived transverse chromatic aberration (TCA), (including the effect of aberrations and Stiles–Crawford effect). The amount of TCA varied markedly across subjects, and between eyes of the same subject. Finally, we used the results from these experiments to compute the image quality of the eye in polychromatic light.

Egocentric and Exocentric Spatial Judgements of Visual Displacement

The role of changes in ego- and exocentric spatial relationships on perceptual judgements about visual displacement was investigated in this study. Subjects were asked to indicate whether a dot in a test stimulus was displaced compared to a dot in a reference stimulus. Subjects were given explicit instructions to report displacement relative to themselves (egocentric) or relative to a circle surrounding the dot (exocentric). Four types of test stimuli were used in which object-circle (exocentric) and object-observer (egocentric) relations were systematically varied. It was found that for test stimuli that reveal conflicting ego- and exocentric spatial information, subjects performed poorly in both instruction conditions. This suggests that ego- and exocentric representations cannot be used independently and are probably interconnected.

The role of neural mechanisms of attention in solving the binding problem.

We thank L. Chelazzi, V. Ferrera, P. Fries, S. Kastner, and A. Rossi for helpful comments on the manuscript.

Sources of position-perception error for small isolated targets.

It has often been reported that, in the presence of static reference stimuli, briefly presented visual targets are perceived as being closer to the fixation point than they actually are. The first purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the same phenomenon can be demonstrated in a situation without static reference stimuli. Experiment 1, with position naming as the task, showed that such a central shift is also observed under these conditions. This finding is of importance because it completes an explanation for central near-location errors in the partial-report bar-probe task. The second purpose of the present study was to provide an explanation for these central shifts. For this explanation information about the exact size of the central shift is required. In Exps. 2, 3, and 4, with cursor setting as the task, it was attempted to assess more precisely the size of the central shifts. These experiments revealed that two different factors determine the results in cursor setting tasks; a factor "target position" and a factor "cursor position." Experiment 5 showed that it is the point of fixation, not the fixation point, that serves, at least in part, as the reference point in this type of task. All the findings together allow us to conclude that the target positions are underestimated by about 10%. From vision research it is known that saccadic eye movements, performed for bringing a target in the fovea, also show an undershoot of about 10%. It is therefore concluded that the system in charge of saccadic eye movements also provides the metric in visual space within a single eye fixation.

Color discrimination results from a CRT device: Influence of luminance

In this article, we report new color discrimination ellipsoids calculated from two normal observers, using a CRT device and five values of luminance at each of the five centers recommended by the CIE in 1978 (Col Res Appl 1978;3:149–151). Our main goal was to test the weighting function for lightness adopted by the CIE94 color-difference model (CIE Publication 116, 1995). Although some of the experimental conditions employed here (CRT monitor, small size of the visual field, and controlled exposure time) did not fit those recommended by this model, our results support the weighting function for lightness proposed by CIE94. The only robust trends observed in the ellipsoids obtained were a confirmation of Weber’s law and a decrease in the area of the x, y chromaticity ellipses, when the luminance of each reference stimulus increased towards the one of the surround. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl,

Color discrimination results from a CRT device: Influence of luminance

In this article, we report new color discrimination ellipsoids calculated from two normal observers, using a CRT device and five values of luminance at each of the five centers recommended by the CIE in 1978 (Col Res Appl 1978;3:149–151). Our main goal was to test the weighting function for lightness adopted by the CIE94 color-difference model (CIE Publication 116, 1995). Although some of the experimental conditions employed here (CRT monitor, small size of the visual field, and controlled exposure time) did not fit those recommended by this model, our results support the weighting function for lightness proposed by CIE94. The only robust trends observed in the ellipsoids obtained were a confirmation of Weber's law and a decrease in the area of the x, y chromaticity ellipses, when the luminance of each reference stimulus increased towards the one of the surround. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl, 24, 38–44, 1999

Proximal Femoral Density Patterns are Consistent with Bicentric Joint Loads

We developed an alternate method for density-based load estimation and applied it to estimate hip joint load distributions for two femora. Two-dimensional finite element models were constructed from single energy quantitative computed tomography (QCT) data. Load estimation was performed using five loading regions on the femoral head. Within each loading region, individual nodal loads, normal to the local surface, were supplied as input to the load estimation. An optimization procedure independently adjusted individual nodal load magnitudes in each region, and the magnitudes of muscle forces on the greater trochanter, such that the applied tissue stimulus approached the reference stimulus throughout the model. Dominant estimated load resultant directions were generally consistent with published experimental data for loads during gait. The estimated loads also suggested that loads near the extremes of the articulating surface may be important (even required) for development and maintenance of normal bone architecture. Estimated load distributions within nearly all regions predicted bicentric loading patterns, which are consistent with observations of hip joint incongruity. Remodeling simulations with the estimated loads predicted density distributions with features qualitatively similar to the QCT data sets. This study illustrates how applications of density-based bone load estimation can improve understanding of dominant loading patterns in other bones and joints. The prediction of bicentric loading suggests a very fine level of local adaptation to details of joint loading.

Colour memory matching analysed using different representation spaces

The choice of the representation space is relevant when analysing the results of a colour memory experiment. If we are interested in determining which colours are best or worst remembered using the colour difference between the reference and matching stimuli, we need spaces with a high degree of uniformity. In this paper, the results of a previous experiment with 10 colours, 100 observers and three time gaps have been processed in five representation spaces with different uniformity degrees: CIE , CIE , SVF, Rlab and Llab. For most colours and in all the spaces, reference colours above a particular lightness value are remembered as even lighter, whereas below a certain value they are remembered as darker or equally light. Chroma either increases or suffers no variations. Changes in hue appear to be, in contrast, unsystematic. These results basically agree with the previous literature. CIE , CIE and Rlab spaces yield practically identical results. The best remembered colours are orange and oxide red, and yellow is the worst remembered colour. In the SVF space, the worst remembered colours are blue and yellow, although the results for pink become comparable as the delay increases. Pink is also the worst remembered colour in the Llab space.

An investigation of the reliability and validity of posteroanterior spinal stiffness judgments made using a reference-based protocol.

The reliability and criterion-related validity of ratings of posteroanterior (PA) spinal stiffness made using reference values for comparison have not been investigated. In this study, mechanical reference stimuli for points on an 11-point rating scale were used to determine whether using a reference scale may be feasible. Subjects. Five different raters took part in 2 studies in which they rated 40 subjects who were asymptomatic for low back pain. The interrater reliability of ratings was evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and standard errors of the measurement (SEMs). Criterion-related validity was evaluated by correlating judgments of PA spinal stiffness assessed manually with measurements of PA spinal stiffness provided by a mechanical device, the "Stiffness Assessment Machine" (SAM). Although the reliability indices were generally high, with ICCs reaching .77 and with SEMs as low as 0.72 points, the evidence for criterion-related validity (i.e., the ability of the examiner to judge spinal stiffness levels) was not strong, with correlations reaching only .56. The reference-based protocol allows for more reliable measures of PA stiffness judgments than previous protocols have; however, the human ratings are not highly correlated with the SAM measures. The protocol will have clinical value if judgments made using it are shown to be reliable in clinically relevant subjects and to have validity for clinical management of patients.