Spatial pooling of contrast in contrast gain control

We report psychophysical measurements of spatial pooling functions for contrast gain control. We use a nulling technique to measure the dependence of contrast induction on the spatial frequency of a sinusoidal contrast modulation. This dependence on spatial frequency, when transformed, provides the profile of a spatial pooling function. The measured profiles are fitted well by Gaussians. We confirm earlier results that the area over which spatial pooling takes places depends on the scale of the modulated pattern. We also find that pooling functions are similar for achromatic and isoluminant stimuli. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America.