In some mammals like primates, cats or ferrets (see [1, 2, 3]), this cortical area is very precisely organized in modules, called cortical hypercolumns, which process visual attributes (like local orientation, spatial frequency) of different points in the visual field.
In these materials, the complicated microscopic information of inclusions, including their shape, size, orientation, spatial distribution, volume fraction and so on, leads to changes of the macroscopic thermal properties.
The prevailing Feature Integration Theory by Anne Treisman [5] states that perception picks up objects in a two-step process where a first, fast, unattended, automatic, and parallel process codes a number of separable dimensions of the visual scene such as color, orientation, spatial frequency, brightness and direction of movement.
Under computer control, the grating orientation, spatial and temporal frequency, and movement direction were matched to the preferred parameters of the cell under study and real-time analyses of the responses were performed.
Thus, adaptation has been successfully used as a psychophysical tool to infer the tuning properties of various mechanisms underlying the perception of basic visual properties such as orientation, spatial frequency and direction of motion [1], [9], [10], [11].
The perceived contrast of a central sinusoidal grating patch (4 c/deg stationary grating, or 2 c/deg drifting at 2 deg/sec, 40% contrast) was measured in the presence and absence of a 95% contrast annular grating (same orientation, spatial frequency, and drift rate).
Selected orientation and spatial frequency of the grating were based on previous studies [27], [28], [29].
The relative density has blob-like pattern with similar periodicity to the orientation and spatial frequency maps (Fig 9a).
Window size, drift rate and stimulus timing were the same as those used for orientation and spatial frequency tuning.
The orientation and spatial structure of opposing slopes of "Evolution Canyon" (EC hereafter) cause differential insulation of solar radiation on each slope [36].
Depending on a range of stimulus attributes (such as orientation, phase, spatial frequency, size of annulus), the magnitude of the suppression can be modulated [35], [36], [37].
