A possible low-level explanation of "temporal dynamics of brightness induction and White's illusion"

TL;DR

This paper proposes a low-level neural explanation for the temporal dynamics of brightness perception and White's illusion, linking physiological data with psychophysical observations through a model of cortical orientation tuning over time.

Contribution

It introduces a model based on time-evolving orientation tuning of cortical neurons to explain brightness induction and White's illusion dynamics.

Findings

Model reproduces temporal brightness effects at 58 and 82 ms stimulus exposure

Orientation tuning inversion explains the change in brightness perception over time

Physiological data supports the proposed cortical contribution mechanism

Abstract

Based upon physiological observation on time dependent orientation selectivity in the cells of macaque's primary visual cortex together with the psychophysical studies on the tuning of orientation detectors in human vision we suggest that time dependence in brightness perception can be accommodated through the time evolution of cortical contribution to the orientation tuning of the ODoG filter responses. A set of Difference of Gaussians functions has been used to mimic the time dependence of orientation tuning. The tuning of orientation preference and its inversion at a later time have been considered in explaining qualitatively the temporal dynamics of brightness perception observed in "Brief presentations reveal the temporal dynamics of brightness induction and White's illusion" for 58 and 82 ms of stimulus exposure.