Spatial-frequency specificity in visual masking

Visual masking between nonoverlapping gratings depends on the similarity of their spatial frequencies. In a metacontrast experiment, bar gratings of 6 and 12 cycles/deg were masked by flanking gratings of various spatial frequencies. For three observers, masking was greatest when the masking frequency was approximately equal to the masked frequency. The results are interpreted in terms of a theory of reciprocal inhibition among frequency-specific neural units.