Texture contrast aftereffects are monocular; texture density aftereffects are binocular

Abstract

Two experiments examined interocular transfer for simple and dynamic aftereffects of density and contrast. Simple aftereffects of texture contrast were shown to be primarily monocular. Texture density aftereffects were shown to be primarily binocular. Similarly, dynamic aftereffects to repeated changes in contrast were found to be completely monocular; those to repeated changes in density were found to be entirely binocular. Since contrast and density aftereffects differ in their sensitivity to eye-of-origin, they likely depend on different neural loci, and are not manifestations of the same underlying adaptation. Consistent with this conclusion, it is proposed that, whereas contrast normalization (and perhaps contrast aftereffects) may be localized to simple cells in V1, density coding and normalization require computations only available in complex cells and beyond.