Stimulus structure in visual persistence: an examination of selective adaptation effects on phenomenal continuity.

The effects of adaptation by stimuli composed of the dimensions of color, orientation and size were measured on the visual persistence of a red vertical 3.5 c/d grating. Adaptation by the stimulus that shared an identical level on each of the three-component dimensions of the test stimulus decreased the visual persistence of the test stimulus. There was no effect of adaptation on visual persistence when the adapting stimulus and test stimulus shared an identical level on zero-, one-, or two-dimensional components. The present results extend the investigation of selective adaptation effects on visual persistence by Meyer, Lawson , Cohen, and Maquire to color, size and orientation. In addition, these results are in excellent agreement with Burns' finding that physically integral stimuli are represented in iconic memory as integral unitary wholes and not as dimensional components.