Spatial frequency and the mediation of short-term visual storage

Abstract

The perceived duration of a photopically illuminated, fixated grating presented for 50 milliseconds increased (from 300 to 500 milliseconds) with spatial frequency (0.9 to 15 cycles per degree). This suggests a sustained neural channel contribution to short-term visual storage, and argues against a pure photoreceptor, especially a rod, locus for such storage.