Orientation opponency in human vision revealed by energy-frequency analysis

Studies of second-order visual processing have primarily been concerned with understanding the mechanisms for detecting spatiotemporal variations in such attributes as contrast, orientation, spatial frequency, etc. Here, we have examined the orientation characteristics of second-order processes using bandpass noise whose Fourier energy is sinusoidally modulated across orientation, rather than across space or time. Sensitivity for detecting orientation-energy modulations was measured as a function of modulation frequency. The sensitivity function was bandpass, with a pronounced peak at an orientation frequency of 4 cycles/π. An inverse Fourier transform of the sensitivity function revealed a filter profile displaying a centre-surround antagonism across orientation, with an excitatory centre within 6–9 deg and inhibitory lobes at 15–20 deg from the filter’s centre. The degree of centre-surround antagonism increased with stimulus size far beyond the spatial range of the first-order filters (more than 64 times the dominant spatial wavelength of the noise carrier). These results suggest that second-order processing involves ‘orientation-opponent’ channels that extract differences in first-order outputs across orientation over a wide area of the visual field.