Part I of this series described a method which yielded the sine-wave response of the complete visual system by assuming that the Mach phenomenon is the result of a convolution, in the optical sense, of the object luminance distribution with the effective spread-function of the visual system. This second paper is concerned with measuring the response of the visual system to sine-wave and square-wave spatial distributions using the threshold criterion of contrast sensitivity. Particular emphasis is placed on the low spatial frequencies, a region which is believed to be critically important in the mechanism of visual contrast phenomena. Results strongly imply interaction of two basic mechanisms in the visual system. These mechanisms may be characterized individually as a low-pass filter component (optical) and a high-pass filter component (neural, chemical, electrical, etc.).
DePalma et al. (1962) studied this question.