Chromatic collinear facilitation, further evidence for chromatic form perception

Collinear facilitation of contrast detection of achromatic stimuli has been studied over the past decade by different groups. We measured collinear facilitation of chromatic contrast detection under equal-luminance (photometric quantity) and under isoluminance (minimum motion technique) conditions, as two different controls. The facilitation was tested for chromatic contrast detection of a foveal Gabor signal flanked by two high chromatic-contrast Gabor signals. The results indicated a significant facilitation in the presence of spatial adjacent collinear chromatic contrast signals, when the flankers were located at a short distance, across all observers for three chromatic channels. The facilitation was compared to a non-collinear flanker configuration. The results indicated no facilitation effect at the opposing phase configuration, at a short flanker distance, whereas a small facilitation was observed with a configuration at a longer flanker distance. The findings suggest that the performance and specificity of chromatic collinear facilitation is not impaired with regard to achromatic mechanisms.