Abstract

Cortical magnification factors (CMFs) derived from anatomical and physiological data predict differences in visual sensitivity of between six and thirty times between the central and peripheral (40°) visual fields. We have measured contour phase discrimination in the central and peripheral visual fields to determine whether these psychophysical data are consistent with published CMFs. Three groups of closed contours were generated by adding together two components, each defined by a function of the form r = a · sin(m · θ), where m is related to the frequency of the component oscillation about the contour. The pairs of frequencies corresponding to the three groups were (3,4), (3,6), and (3,9), (i.e., either a fourth, sixth, or ninth harmonic added to a third harmonic base stimulus).

© 1991 Optical Society of America