Spatial frequency adaptation: threshold elevation and perceived contrast.

We have measured the spread of contrast adaptation across the dimension of spatial frequency. Threshold elevation was tightly tuned to the adapting spatial frequency but became much broader as test contrast was increased. This means that, for a given test frequency, there are some frequencies which do not raise threshold but do result in a loss of perceived contrast. The contrast dependence, retinal specificity and interocular transfer of adaptation effects elicited from same-and remote-frequency adaptation were compared. While we were able to show some distinct differences between threshold and suprathreshold tests, we were unable to demonstrate any reliable differences in the retinal specificity and interocular transfer between same- and remote-frequency adaptation.