Abstract
Horn and Hill (1969) and others have reported that a small number of units in the cat visual cortex undergo changes in receptive field orientation associated with body tilt. Such units reportedly compensate for tilt and may represent a mechanism for human orientation constancy. To test this, we measured meridional differences in visual acuity for head-vertical and head-tilted viewing conditions. The results of Experiment 1 did not directly support or refute the involvement of tilt-compensatory units. The results of Experiment 2, in which we controlled for countertorsion of the eyes, showed that meridional acuity differences correspond to the retinal and not the spatial orientation of the stimulus. We conclude that tilt-compensatory cortical units are not involved in human orientation constancy. The physiological evidence indicating the existence of tilt-compensatory units in the visual cortex is also reexamined.
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We wish to acknowledge the assistance of Professors Robert Livingston, David Rumelhart, and Harry Munsinger of the University of California, San Diego, in obtaining some of the equipment used in this study. We also thank Professors Philip Salapatek and Dwight Burkhardt of the University of Minnesota for comments on an earlier draft.
We have recently learned that Lennie (1974) has performed an experiment similar to our Experiment 1. Also, Wade (1973) has sought evidence for tilt-compensatory cortical units by studying the lace of linear afterimages. Both authors failed to find evidence for tilt-compensatory units.
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Banks, M.S., Stolarz, S.J. The effect of head tilt on meridional differences in acuity: Implications for orientation constancy. Perception & Psychophysics 17, 17–22 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203992
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203992