Fading of stabilized retinal images.

It is well known that targets whose images are stabilized on the retina by optical means, as well as afterimages that are naturally stabilized on the retina, fade and eventually disappear. Comparative data are presented on the rate of disappearance of stabilized images and afterimages as a function of contrast and spatial frequency. The main finding is that they disappear in a similar fashion only when target contrast is low.