The Effects of Stimulus Orientation and Response Bias Upon Dynamic Visual Acuity.

Abstract

In experiments on dynamic visual acuity, test stimuli are characteristically presented in various orientations to the subject as they are moved across his visual field. However, current literature on static visual acuity indicates that acuity thresholds vary as a function of stimulus orientation. Static acuity thresholds are reported to be lower for the vertical and horizontal orientations, whereas, higher thresholds are found for oblique orientations. This has been referred to the 'oblique effect.' It is not known whether the same phenomonon operates in dynamic visual acuity. Hence, it is of interest to determine whether such an effect occurs under moving target conditions. The present studies utilized the up-and-down method to determine acuity thresholds for eight orientations (4 cardinal and 4 oblique) of Landolt Cs over three angular velocities. Response-bias scores were computed for each subject and compared to the threshold data. A significant orientation effect was found for both dynamically and statically presented targets, but it was not an oblique effect. That is, thresholds were not consistently higher for oblique orientations. The data further revealed a significant negative rank-order correlation between the subject's response-bias scores and their threshold scores across orientations, for dynamically presented targets. The data were suggestive that a subject's response bias contributes to the error in the measurement of psychophysically derived acuity thresholds. (Author)

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 19, 1977
Accession Number
ADA047827

Entities

People

  • Lawrence H. Frank

Organizations

  • Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Analysis Of Variance
  • Bias
  • Biomedical Research
  • Color Temperature
  • Data Analysis
  • Eye
  • Horizontal Orientation
  • Information Science
  • Literature
  • Luminance
  • Moving Targets
  • Neurobehavioral Manifestations
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Signal Detection
  • Standards
  • Targets
  • Visual Acuity

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Regression Analysis.
  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.