Abstract
We hardly notice our eye blinks, yet an externally generated retinal interruption of a similar duration is perceptually salient. We examined the neural correlates of this perceptual distinction using intracranially measured ECoG signals from the human visual cortex in 14 patients. In early visual areas (V1 and V2), the disappearance of the stimulus due to either invisible blinks or salient blank video frames ('gaps') led to a similar drop in activity level, followed by a positive overshoot beyond baseline, triggered by stimulus reappearance. Ascending the visual hierarchy, the reappearance-related overshoot gradually subsided for blinks but not for gaps. By contrast, the disappearance-related drop did not follow the perceptual distinction - it was actually slightly more pronounced for blinks than for gaps. These findings suggest that blinks' limited visibility compared with gaps is correlated with suppression of blink-related visual activity transients, rather than with "filling-in" of the occluded content during blinks.
Highlights
IntroductionThe perceived continuity of the visual input despite its frequent interruptions by spontaneous eye blinks is a ubiquitous and powerful dissociation between sensation and perception
Fourteen patients undergoing electrocorticographic evaluation for intractable epilepsy participated in the study
Due to technical limitations imposed by the clinical setting, the gaps employed in the current study were only an approximate simulation of the retinal impact of eye blinks
Summary
The perceived continuity of the visual input despite its frequent interruptions by spontaneous eye blinks is a ubiquitous and powerful dissociation between sensation and perception. The perceptual omission of one’s own eye blinks cannot be explained by the blinks’ apparent briefness: blinks occlude the pupil for a considerable amount of time, typically 100–150 ms (Riggs et al, 1981). External darkenings of such duration have been shown to cause a robust percept (Riggs et al, 1981). Since blinks normally occur at least 1000 times an hour (Cruz et al, 2011), about three or four percent of our waking hours are unknowingly spent with our
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