Further Examination of the Pulsed- and Steady-Pedestal Paradigms under Hypothetical Parvocellular- and Magnocellular-Biased Conditions.

The pulsed- and steady-pedestal paradigms were designed to track increment thresholds (Δ C ) as a function of pedestal contrast (C) for the parvocellular (P) and magnocellular (M) systems, respectively. These paradigms produce contrasting results: linear relationships between Δ C and C are observed in the pulsed-pedestal paradigm, indicative of the P system's processing, while the steady-pedestal paradigm reveals nonlinear functions, characteristic of the M system's response. However, we recently found the P model fits better than the M model for both paradigms, using Gabor stimuli biased towards the M or P systems based on their sensitivity to color and spatial frequency. Here, we used two-square pedestals under green vs. red light in the lower-left vs. upper-right visual fields to bias processing towards the M vs. P system, respectively. Based on our previous findings, we predicted the following: (1) steeper Δ C vs. C functions with the pulsed than the steady pedestal due to different task demands; (2) lower Δ C s in the upper-right vs. lower-left quadrant due to its bias towards P-system processing there; (3) no effect of color, since both paradigms track the P-system; and, most importantly (4) contrast gain should not be higher for the steady than for the pulsed pedestal. In general, our predictions were confirmed, replicating our previous findings and providing further evidence questioning the general validity of using the pulsed- and steady-pedestal paradigms to differentiate the P and M systems.