Time-locked perceptual fading induced by visual transients.

Full Abstract

After prolonged fixation, a stationary object placed in the peripheral visual field fades and disappears from our visual awareness, especially at low luminance contrast (the Troxler effect). Here, we report that similar fading can be triggered by visual transients, such as additional visual stimuli flashed near the object, apparent motion, or a brief removal of the object itself (blinking). The fading occurs even without prolonged adaptation and is time-locked to the presentation of the visual transients. Experiments show that the effect of a flashed object decreased monotonically as a function of the distance from the target object. Consistent with this result, when apparent motion, consisting of a sequence of flashes was presented between stationary disks, these target disks perceptually disappeared as if erased by the moving object. Blinking the target disk, instead of flashing an additional visual object, turned out to be sufficient to induce the fading. The effect of blinking peaked around a blink duration of 80 msec. Our findings reveal a unique mechanism that controls the visibility of visual objects in a spatially selective and time-locked manner in response to transient visual inputs. Possible mechanisms underlying this phenomenon will be discussed.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Kanai, Ryota (R); Kamitani, Yukiyasu (Y);

Affiliation: Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherland. r.kanai(-atsign-)fss.uu.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: Journal of cognitive neuroscience (J Cogn Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jul; vol 15 (issue 5) : pp 664-72

Dates: Created 2003/09/10; Completed 2003/10/14; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12965040, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Reaction Time
Space Perception
Time Factors
Time Perception
Visual Fields - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.