Figure 1.

Effects of adaptation and attention effects on contrast sensitivity

(A) Adaptation reduces contrast gain: The c₅₀ (semi-saturation point) is higher in the adapted than non-adapted condition.^5,9,10,11

(B) Exogenous attention modulates performance via response gain: performance at d’ max (asymptote) is highest in the valid, followed by neutral and invalid trials.^2,7,⁹,¹²,¹³

(C) Exogenous attention restores contrast sensitivity via response gain even if adaptation depresses overall contrast sensitivity via contrast gain.⁹

(D) TMS to the target will disrupt the response gain brought by exogenous attention.¹²

(E) Hypotheses: If the effects of adaptation and attention are independent in the early visual cortex, we should observe that the attentional effect is still eliminated by TMS after adaptation (left panel). Otherwise, the attentional effect will still emerge under the influence of TMS after adaptation (right panel).