Volume 7, Number 3, Article 1, Pages 1-15 doi:10.1167/7.3.1 http://journalofvision.org/7/3/1/ ISSN 1534-7362
Contrast thresholds for component motion with full and poor attention
Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
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Jochen Braun
Cognitive Biology, University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
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Abstract

We compare luminance-contrast-masking thresholds for fully and poorly attended stimuli, controlling attention with a demanding concurrent task. We use dynamic displays composed of discrete spatiotemporal wavelets, comparing three conditions (“single,” “parallel,” and “random”). In contrast to static displays, we do not find that attention modulates the “dipper” regime for masks of low luminance contrast. Nor does attention alter direction-selective masking by multiple wavelets moving in random directions, a condition designed to isolate effects on component motion. However, direction-selective masking by multiple wavelets moving in parallel is significantly reduced by attention. As the latter condition is expected to excite both component and pattern motion mechanisms, this implies that attention may alter the visual representation of pattern motion. In addition, attention exhibits its well-known effect of reducing lateral masking between nearby spatiotemporal wavelets.

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History
Received October 25, 2005; published February 12, 2007
Citation
Tsuchiya, N., & Braun, J. (2007). Contrast thresholds for component motion with full and poor attention. Journal of Vision, 7(3):1, 1-15, http://journalofvision.org/7/3/1/, doi:10.1167/7.3.1.
Keywords
component motion, pattern motion, luminance contrast masking, detection, discrimination, attention, dual-tasks
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