Minimal exposure durations reveal visual processing priorities for different stimulus attributes.

ABSTRACT: Human vision can detect a single photon, but the minimal exposure required to extract meaning from stimulation remains unknown. This requirement cannot be characterised by stimulus energy, because the system is differentially sensitive to attributes defined by configuration rather than physical amplitude. Determining minimal exposure durations required for processing various stimulus attributes can thus reveal the system's priorities. Using a tachistoscope enabling arbitrarily brief displays, we establish minimal durations for processing human faces, a stimulus category whose perception is associated with several well-characterised behavioural and neural markers. Neural and psychophysical measures show a sequence of distinct minimal exposures for stimulation detection, object-level detecti

SUBMITTER: Lanfranco RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11447214 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature