Abstract
The properties of the detecting mechanism involved in the resolution of temporal discontinuities of visually presented stimuli have been investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, observers made judgments of discontinuity when superimposed presentations of sine-wave gratings of 1, 3, 6, and 10 cycles/deg were presented for either a 20- or a 200-msec duration per presentation at a contrast of .1 and .4. Threshold separation for discontinuity detection indicated a linear increase as spatial frequency increased, with a lesser effect for longer duration exposure and higher contrast. Experiment 2 involved adjacent presentation of the second grating, and a small linear decrease in separation threshold as a function of increasing spatial frequency occurred. The effect of spatial frequency on temporal discontinuity detection is dependent on whether the second stimulus is superimposed or adjacent.
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This project is funded by an ARGC grant to G. Stanley and G. Smith and by an NHMRC grant to E. R. Howell.
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Smith, G., Howell, E.R. & Stanley, G. Spatial frequency and the detection of temporal discontinuity in superimposed and adjacent gratings. Perception & Psychophysics 31, 293–297 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202537
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202537