title: A psychoanatomical investigation of the blanking phenomenon.
abstract: One cannot detect a white disk located at least 15 degrees from fixation in an intersection of gray alleys that define a grid of black squares. A psychophysical examination of the anatomical locus of this "blanking phenomenon" is reported here. Stimuli were presented dichoptically; disk threshold was measured with fixed-step staircases. Three dichoptic experiments were developed employing different stimuli. Simple dichoptic presentations implied both pre- and post-fusion contributions. One follow-up experiment verified pre-fusion contributions, while another implicated post-fusion mechanisms. These results indicate that the blanking phenomenon has contributions from multiple sites in the visual system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Illinois at Chicago, M/C 285, 1007 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607-7137, USA. jmcana1@uic.edu
authors.forename: J Jason
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: McAnany
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009903:Optical Illusions; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011601:Psychophysics; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D015357:Vision Disparity / Q000502:physiology; D015348:Vision, Binocular / Q000502:physiology