Asymmetrical Color Filling-in From the Nasal to the Temporal Side of the Blind Spot
The physiological blind spot, corresponding to the optic disk in the retina, is a relatively large (6x8 deg) area in the visual field that receives no retinal input. However, we rarely notice the existence of it in daily life. This is because the blind spot fills in with the brightness, color, textu...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-07-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00534/full |
| _version_ | 1828811415076470784 |
|---|---|
| author | Hui eLi Junxiang eLuo Yiliang eLu Janis eKan Lothar eSpillmann Wei eWang |
| author_facet | Hui eLi Junxiang eLuo Yiliang eLu Janis eKan Lothar eSpillmann Wei eWang |
| author_sort | Hui eLi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The physiological blind spot, corresponding to the optic disk in the retina, is a relatively large (6x8 deg) area in the visual field that receives no retinal input. However, we rarely notice the existence of it in daily life. This is because the blind spot fills in with the brightness, color, texture, and motion of the surround. The study of filling-in enables us to better understand the creative nature of the visual system, which generates perceptual information where there is none. Is there any retinotopic rule in the color filling-in of the blind spot? To find out, we used mono-colored and bi-colored annuli hugging the boundary of the blind spot. We found that mono-colored annuli filled in the blind spot uniformly. By contrast, bi-colored annuli, where one half had a given color, while the other half had a different one, filled in the blind spot asymmetrically. Specifically, the color surrounding the nasal half typically filled in about 75% of the blind spot area, whereas the color surrounding the temporal half filled in only about 25%. This asymmetry was dependent on the relative size of the half rings, but not the two colors used, and was absent when the bi-colored annulus was rotated by 90 deg. Here, the two colors on the upper and lower sides of the blind spot filled in the enclosed area equally. These results suggest that the strength of filling-in decreases with distance from the fovea consistent with the decrease of the cortical magnification factor. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T09:27:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-93e907aded3749f583001e4d688618cf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T09:27:30Z |
| publishDate | 2014-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-93e907aded3749f583001e4d688618cf2022-12-22T00:28:59ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612014-07-01810.3389/fnhum.2014.0053498391Asymmetrical Color Filling-in From the Nasal to the Temporal Side of the Blind SpotHui eLi0Junxiang eLuo1Yiliang eLu2Janis eKan3Lothar eSpillmann4Wei eWang5Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, P. R. ChinaInstitute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, P. R. ChinaInstitute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, P. R. ChinaInstitute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, P. R. ChinaInstitute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, P. R. ChinaInstitute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, P. R. ChinaThe physiological blind spot, corresponding to the optic disk in the retina, is a relatively large (6x8 deg) area in the visual field that receives no retinal input. However, we rarely notice the existence of it in daily life. This is because the blind spot fills in with the brightness, color, texture, and motion of the surround. The study of filling-in enables us to better understand the creative nature of the visual system, which generates perceptual information where there is none. Is there any retinotopic rule in the color filling-in of the blind spot? To find out, we used mono-colored and bi-colored annuli hugging the boundary of the blind spot. We found that mono-colored annuli filled in the blind spot uniformly. By contrast, bi-colored annuli, where one half had a given color, while the other half had a different one, filled in the blind spot asymmetrically. Specifically, the color surrounding the nasal half typically filled in about 75% of the blind spot area, whereas the color surrounding the temporal half filled in only about 25%. This asymmetry was dependent on the relative size of the half rings, but not the two colors used, and was absent when the bi-colored annulus was rotated by 90 deg. Here, the two colors on the upper and lower sides of the blind spot filled in the enclosed area equally. These results suggest that the strength of filling-in decreases with distance from the fovea consistent with the decrease of the cortical magnification factor.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00534/fulleccentricityBlind spotcolor filling-inretinotopiccortical magnification factor |
| spellingShingle | Hui eLi Junxiang eLuo Yiliang eLu Janis eKan Lothar eSpillmann Wei eWang Asymmetrical Color Filling-in From the Nasal to the Temporal Side of the Blind Spot Frontiers in Human Neuroscience eccentricity Blind spot color filling-in retinotopic cortical magnification factor |
| title | Asymmetrical Color Filling-in From the Nasal to the Temporal Side of the Blind Spot |
| title_full | Asymmetrical Color Filling-in From the Nasal to the Temporal Side of the Blind Spot |
| title_fullStr | Asymmetrical Color Filling-in From the Nasal to the Temporal Side of the Blind Spot |
| title_full_unstemmed | Asymmetrical Color Filling-in From the Nasal to the Temporal Side of the Blind Spot |
| title_short | Asymmetrical Color Filling-in From the Nasal to the Temporal Side of the Blind Spot |
| title_sort | asymmetrical color filling in from the nasal to the temporal side of the blind spot |
| topic | eccentricity Blind spot color filling-in retinotopic cortical magnification factor |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00534/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT huieli asymmetricalcolorfillinginfromthenasaltothetemporalsideoftheblindspot AT junxiangeluo asymmetricalcolorfillinginfromthenasaltothetemporalsideoftheblindspot AT yiliangelu asymmetricalcolorfillinginfromthenasaltothetemporalsideoftheblindspot AT janisekan asymmetricalcolorfillinginfromthenasaltothetemporalsideoftheblindspot AT lotharespillmann asymmetricalcolorfillinginfromthenasaltothetemporalsideoftheblindspot AT weiewang asymmetricalcolorfillinginfromthenasaltothetemporalsideoftheblindspot |