IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v415y2002i6870d10.1038_415433a.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of grouping in contextual modulation

Author

Listed:
  • Michael H. Herzog

    (Human Neurobiology, University of Bremen)

  • Manfred Fahle

    (Human Neurobiology, University of Bremen
    City University, Tait Building)

Abstract

Perception of a visual target and the responses of cortical neurons can be strongly influenced by a context surrounding the target1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27. This observation relates to the fundamental issue of how cortical neurons code objects of the external world. In high-contrast regimes, embedding a target in an iso-oriented context reduces neural responses and deteriorates performance in psychophysical experiments. Performance from orthogonal surrounds is better than that from iso-oriented ones1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17. This contextual interference is often postulated to be caused by long- or short-range interactions between neurons tuned to orientation. Here we show, using a new illusion called ‘shine-through’ as a sensitive psychophysical probe, that the orientation difference between target and context does not determine performance. Instead, contextual modulation depends on the overall spatial structure of the context. We propose that contextual suppression vanishes if the contextual elements are grouped to an independent and coherent object.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael H. Herzog & Manfred Fahle, 2002. "Effects of grouping in contextual modulation," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6870), pages 433-436, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:415:y:2002:i:6870:d:10.1038_415433a
    DOI: 10.1038/415433a
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/415433a
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/415433a?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adrien Doerig & Alban Bornet & Ruth Rosenholtz & Gregory Francis & Aaron M Clarke & Michael H Herzog, 2019. "Beyond Bouma's window: How to explain global aspects of crowding?," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-28, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:415:y:2002:i:6870:d:10.1038_415433a. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.