Non-binding relationship between visual features.

The answer as to how visual attributes processed in different brain loci at different speeds are bound together to give us our unitary experience of the visual world remains unknown. In this study we investigated whether bound representations arise, as commonly assumed, through physiological interactions between cells in the visual areas. In a focal attentional task in which correct responses from either bound or unbound representations were possible, participants discriminated the color or orientation of briefly presented single bars. On the assumption that representations of the two attributes are bound, the accuracy of reporting the color and orientation should co-vary. By contrast, if the attributes are not mandatorily bound, the accuracy of reporting the two attributes should be independent. The results of our psychophysical studies reported here supported the latter, non-binding, relationship between visual features, suggesting that binding does not necessarily occur even under focal attention. We propose a task-contingent binding mechanism, postulating that binding occurs at late, post-perceptual (PP), stages through the intervention of memory

Failure to pop out: feature singletons do not capture attention under low signal-to-noise ratio conditions

Pop-out search implies that the target is always the first item selected, no matter how many distractors are presented. However, increasing evidence indicates that search is not entirely independent of display density even for pop-out targets: search is slower with sparse (few distractors) than with dense displays (many distractors). Despite its significance, the cause of this anomaly remains unclear. We investigated several mechanisms that could slow down search for pop-out targets. Consistent with the assumption that pop-out targets frequently fail to pop out in sparse displays, we observed greater variability of search duration for sparse displays relative to dense. Computational modeling of the response time distributions also supported the view that pop-out targets fail to pop out in sparse displays. Our findings strongly question the classical assumption that early processing of pop-out targets is independent of the distrac- tors. Rather, the density of distractors critically influences whether or not a stimulus pops out. These results call for new, more reliable measures of pop-out search and potentially a reinterpretation of studies that used relatively sparse displays

Broadband sum frequency generation via chirped quasi-phase-matching

An efficient broadband sum frequency generation (SFG) technique using the two collinear optical parametric processes \omega 3=\omega 1+\omega 2 and \omega 4=\omega 1+\omega 3 is proposed. The technique uses chirped quasi-phase-matched gratings, which, in the undepleted pump approximation, make SFG analogous to adiabatic population transfer in three-state systems with crossing energies in quantum physics. If the local modulation period %for aperiodically poled quasi-phase-matching first makes the phase match occur for \omega 3 and then for \omega 4 SFG processes then the energy is converted adiabatically to the \omega 4 field. Efficient SFG of the \omega 4 field is also possible by the opposite direction of the local modulation sweep; then transient SFG of the \omega 3 field is strongly reduced. Most of these features remain valid in the nonlinear regime of depleted pump

What are task-sets: a single, integrated representation or a collection of multiple control representations?

Performing two randomly alternating tasks typically results in higher reaction times (RTs) following a task switch, relative to a task repetition. These task switch costs (TSC) reflect processes of switching between control settings for different tasks. The present study investigated whether task sets operate as a single, integrated representation or as an agglomeration of relatively independent components. In a cued task switch paradigm, target detection (present/absent) and discrimination (blue/green/right-/left-tilted) tasks alternated randomly across trials. The target was either a color or an orientation singleton among homogeneous distractors. Across two trials, the task and target-defining dimension repeated or changed randomly. For task switch trials, agglomerated task sets predict a difference between dimension changes and repetitions: joint task and dimension switches require full task set reconfiguration, while dimension repetitions permit re-using some control settings from the previous trial. By contrast, integrated task sets always require full switches, predicting dimension repetition effects (DREs) to be absent across task switches. RT analyses showed significant DREs across task switches as well as repetitions supporting the notion of agglomerated task sets. Additionally, two event-related potentials (ERP) were analyzed: the Posterior-Contralateral-Negativity (PCN) indexing spatial selection dynamics, and the Sustained-Posterior-Contralateral-Negativity (SPCN) indexing post-selective perceptual/semantic analysis. Significant DREs across task switches were observed for both the PCN and SPCN components. Together, DREs across task switches for RTs and two functionally distinct ERP components suggest that re-using control settings across different tasks is possible. The results thus support the “agglomerated-task-set” hypothesis, and are inconsistent with “integrated task sets.

A dynamic Green's function for the homogeneous viscoelastic and isotropic half-space

A dynamic 3D Green's function for the homogeneous, isotropic and viscoelastic (of the Zener type) half-space is derived in a closed form. The results obtained here can be used as either stand-alone solutions for simple problems or in conjunction with a boundary integral equation formulations to account for complex boundary conditions. In the later case, mesh-reducing boundary element formulations can be constructed as an alternative method for numerical implementation purposes.Comment: 13 page

Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage analogs in classical physics

Stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) is a well established technique for producing coherent population transfer in a three-state quantum system. We here exploit the resemblance between the Schrodinger equation for such a quantum system and the Newton equation of motion for a classical system undergoing torque to discuss several classical analogs of STIRAP, notably the motion of a moving charged particle subject to the Lorentz force of a quasistatic magnetic field, the orientation of a magnetic moment in a slowly varying magnetic field, the Coriolis effect and the inertial frame dragging effect. Like STIRAP, those phenomena occur for counterintuitively ordered field pulses and are robustly insensitive to small changes in the interaction properties

Factorizing numbers with classical interference: several implementations in optics

Truncated Fourier, Gauss, Kummer and exponential sums can be used to factorize numbers: for a factor these sums equal unity in absolute value, whereas they nearly vanish for any other number. We show how this factorization algorithm can emerge from superpositions of classical light waves and we present a number of simple implementations in optics

Counterintuitive transitions between crossing energy levels

We calculate analytically the probabilities for intuitive and counterintuitive transitions in a three-state system, in which two parallel energies are crossed by a third, tilted energy. The state with the tilted energy is coupled to the other two states in a chainwise linkage pattern with constant couplings of finite duration. The probability for a counterintuitive transition is found to increase with the square of the coupling and decrease with the squares of the interaction duration, the energy splitting between the parallel energies, and the tilt (chirp) rate. Physical examples of this model can be found in coherent atomic excitation and optical shielding in cold atomic collisions

Phase diagram investigation and characterization of alloys in Bi-Ga10Sb90 section of Ga-Bi-Sb system

The results of phase equilibria investigation and characterization of the alloys in the Bi-Ga10Sb90 section of Ga-Bi-Sb system are presented in this paper. Phase diagram of the mentioned section has been calculated according to CALPHAD model, using Pandat software. In the frame of alloys characterization, structural, mechanical and electrical characteristics were determined using SEM-EDX analysis, microhardness and electroconductivity measurements

Saliency maps for finding changes in visual scenes?

Sudden changes in the environment reliably summon attention. This rapid change detection appears to operate in a similar fashion as pop-out in visual search, the phenomenon that very salient stimuli are directly attended, independently of the number of distracting objects. Pop-out is usually explained by the workings of saliency maps, i.e., map-like representations that code for the conspicuity at each location of the visual field. While past research emphasized similarities between pop-out search and change detection, our study highlights differences between the saliency computations in the two tasks: in contrast to pop-out search, saliency computation in change detection (i) operates independently across different stimulus properties (e.g., color and orientation), and (ii) is little influenced by trial history. These deviations from pop-out search are not due to idiosyncrasies of the stimuli or task design, as evidenced by a replication of standard findings in a comparable visual-search design. To explain these results, we outline a model of change detection involving the computation of feature-difference maps, which explains the known similarities and differences with visual search