Cribb Serena J, Badcock Johanna C, Maybery Murray T, Badcock David R
School of Psychology, University of Western Australia.
Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, University of Western Australia.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2016 Nov;42(11):1761-1769. doi: 10.1037/xhp0000257. Epub 2016 Jul 4.
Radial Frequency (RF) patterns are a useful stimulus for assessing sensitivity to changes in shape. With these patterns it is possible to separate sensitivity to local curvature information from the ability to globally integrate information around the contour. Previous work has demonstrated that young, school-age children are less sensitive to deformation in RF patterns than adults. However, since the efficiency of contour integration was not assessed, age-related differences in performance could arise from either changes in the strength of global pooling of information, the sensitivity to local curvature information, or both. In this study, psychophysical methods were used to reassess changes in sensitivity to RF patterns, separating changes in sensitivity to local curvature information from changes in contour integration strength. Typically developing observers (aged 6-24, N = 104) were tested using a 2-alternative forced-choice discrimination task with either 1, 2 or 3 cycles of sinusoidal modulation in a pattern of fixed RF. Thresholds were lower for older observers but the rate of change, as more modulation cycles were added, was approximately constant across age. The results indicate that changes in sensitivity to RF3 patterns across age are due to changes in local curvature sensitivity and not to the strength of contour integration. (PsycINFO Database Record
径向频率（RF）模式是评估对形状变化敏感度的一种有用刺激。利用这些模式，可以将对局部曲率信息的敏感度与围绕轮廓全局整合信息的能力区分开来。先前的研究表明，学龄儿童对RF模式变形的敏感度低于成年人。然而，由于未评估轮廓整合的效率，表现上与年龄相关的差异可能源于全局信息汇聚强度的变化、对局部曲率信息的敏感度变化，或两者皆有。在本研究中，采用心理物理学方法重新评估对RF模式的敏感度变化，将对局部曲率信息的敏感度变化与轮廓整合强度的变化区分开来。使用具有固定RF模式下1、2或3个正弦调制周期的二择一强迫选择辨别任务，对典型发育的观察者（年龄6 - 24岁，N = 104）进行测试。年长观察者的阈值较低，但随着添加更多调制周期，变化率在各年龄组中大致恒定。结果表明，各年龄组对RF3模式敏感度的变化是由于局部曲率敏感度的变化，而非轮廓整合强度的变化。（PsycINFO数据库记录 ）
