| Title: |
Contextual modulations at low and high levels of visual perception: functional (in)dependance and influence of low contrast |
| Authors: |
Grandjean, Marius; Canoluk, Mehmet Umut; Goffaux, Valérie; European Conference for Visual Perception (ECVP) |
| Contributors: |
UCL - SSH/IPSY - Psychological Sciences Research Institute |
| Publication Year: |
2025 |
| Collection: |
DIAL@USL-B (Université Saint-Louis, Bruxelles) |
| Description: |
Spatial context modulates perception at both low- and high levels of visual processing. Contextual modulations observed when processing faces presumably rely on high-level, specialized mechanisms, with little contribution from low-level mechanisms. However, low-level and high-level contextual modulations appear to be governed by a similar functional principle: the influence of context on local input perception depends on the strength of that input. This suggests that contextual modulations at low and high levels of visual processing may be functionally linked. In the present study, sixty participants performed a local contrast detection task and a facial feature discrimination task in which the contrast (i.e., strength) of the local input target (local grating and facial feature, respectively) was manipulated. In the contrast detection task, the context consisted of a large grating in which the local target grating was inserted, while in the facial feature discrimination task the context was defined by all facial features surrounding the local feature target. The facial feature discrimination task employed both upright and inverted face conditions to differentially engage face-specialized processing. We found that the decrease in contextual modulation strength as a function of local input contrast was shared across tasks, confirming the functional similarity of the mechanisms involved. Contextual modulation strength correlated between upright and inverted face conditions only; there was no evidence of a significant correlation between face-related (upright or inverted) and low-level contextual modulation strength. These results indicate that despite their similar functional dependence on local input strength, low- and high-level contextual modulations involve distinct contextual mechanisms. They confirm the specificity of the contextual mechanisms at stake when processing faces in contrast to low-level contextual modulations. |
| Document Type: |
conference object |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/F.R.S-FNRS//; boreal:310013; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/310013 |
| Availability: |
https://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/310013 |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.3912F0F0 |
| Database: |
BASE |