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Metacontrast, target recovery, and the magno- and parvocellular systems: A perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2007

BERNT C. SKOTTUN  and
JOHN R. SKOYLES
BERNT C. SKOTTUN
Affiliation:
Skottun Research, Oakland, California
JOHN R. SKOYLES
Affiliation:
Centre for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology (CoMPLEX), University College London, London, UK Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CNPSS), London School of Economics, London, UK
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Abstract

In metacontrast a masking stimulus reduces the visibility of an adjacent target stimulus. This effect has been interpreted in terms of magno-/parvocellular interactions. It has also been found that a second masking stimulus, which precedes the primary mask by about 90 ms reduces the masking effect. This reduction, which is termed “target recovery,” has been hypothesized to reflect parvocellular inhibition of the magnocellular system. However, this is problematic because the time course of this effect is much larger than would be expected from magno-/parvocellular interactions. For this and other reasons, it is difficult to understand metacontrast in terms of magno- and parvocellular mechanisms.

Keywords

MetacontrastMagnocellularMaskingParvocellularCortical mechanisms
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , March 2007 , pp. 177 - 181
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

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