ABSTRACT
1. Study was made of the effect of separation between stripes in the visual field upon responses which indicate memory of those stripes. 2. The amount of separation between white stripes had very little effect, whereas response strength and the amount of separation between black stripes were directly proportional. 3. The presence of extra, non-displaced black stripes prior to or following displacement reduced the size of the memory responses. 4. The effects of the amount of separation in the two cases were comparable. In both situations the separation affected only the responses to displacement of the stripe borders nearest to the extra stripe. 5. The effect of extra stripes present prior to displacement was in turn affected by the duration of the dark period, whilst the effect of those present during the post-displacement period was not. This accounts for the larger effect of extra stripes present during the psot-displacement period. 6. By expanding stripe width during darkness it was possible to distinguish between the effects of distance between stripes and the amount of white space separating them. Reducing white space while distance remains constant causes reductions in response strength, whereas reducing the distance between a memory zone and the white space between it and the neighboring stripe increased the size of the memory response.
Subject(s)
Brachyura/physiology , Form Perception/physiology , Memory/physiology , Action Potentials , Animals , Darkness , Motor Neurons/physiologyABSTRACT
Memory responses of the optomotor system to rotations of various stripe patterns were studied. The separate elements of the visual background are individually remembered in terms of the parts of the eye on which their images fell. A visual illusion resulting from this property is described. All parts of the retina have an equal capacity to contribute to memory. The memory response results from the summation of contributions from individual elements rather than the maintenance of a fixation upon any particular feature of the situation. Both the separation between background elements for angles from 6 degrees up to 60 degrees and the number of elements present affect the size of the memory evoked response.
