title: Asymmetrical color filling-in from the nasal to the temporal side of the blind spot.
abstract: The physiological blind spot, corresponding to the optic disk in the retina, is a relatively large (6 × 8°) 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°. 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.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Junxiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yiliang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Janis
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Lothar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Spillmann
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: blind spot; color filling-in; cortical magnification factor; eccentricity; retinotopic
references.citation: Vision Res. 2004 Feb;44(4):377-83
references.pmid: 14659964
references.citation: Perception. 1995;24(7):827-40
references.pmid: 8710443
references.citation: J Physiol. 2003 Apr 15;548(Pt 2):593-613
references.pmid: 12611925
references.citation: Perception. 1997;26(11):1353-66
references.pmid: 9616466
references.citation: Vision Res. 2011 Apr 13;51(7):718-37
references.pmid: 20692278
references.citation: Vision Res. 1995 Apr;35(8):1041-5
references.pmid: 7762160
references.citation: Sci Am. 1992 May;266(5):86-91
references.pmid: 1566041
references.citation: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011 Jan 25;52(1):541-8
references.pmid: 20847110
references.citation: Vision Res. 2003 Jan;43(1):43-52
references.pmid: 12505603
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2010 Aug 24;20(16):R664-6
references.pmid: 20728047
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2005 Nov;94(5):3314-24
references.pmid: 16033933
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 1979;37(3):495-510
references.pmid: 520439
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Mar 23;101(12):4286-91
references.pmid: 15010538
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 1974;21(5):447-454
references.pmid: 4442497
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Feb 3;95(3):811-7
references.pmid: 9448245
references.citation: Neuron. 1992 Jul;9(1):1-13
references.pmid: 1632964
references.citation: Neurosci Res. 2002 Nov;44(3):231-6
references.pmid: 12413651
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2006 Mar;18(3):363-75
references.pmid: 16513002
references.citation: Perception. 1984;13(5):513-20
references.pmid: 6535976
references.citation: Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2006 Jan;47(1):453-60
references.pmid: 16384996
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2011 Sep 21;31(38):13604-12
references.pmid: 21940451
references.citation: Prog Brain Res. 2006;154:227-45
references.pmid: 17010714
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Sep 15;89(18):8547-51
references.pmid: 1528860
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2001 Nov;86(5):2559-70
references.pmid: 11698542
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Dec 28;101(52):18251-6
references.pmid: 15596726
references.citation: Arch Ophthalmol. 1969 Feb;81(2):192-201
references.pmid: 5764683
references.citation: Vision Res. 2001 Jul;41(16):2107-17
references.pmid: 11403794
references.citation: Vision Res. 2006 Nov;46(25):4252-7
references.pmid: 17034833
references.citation: Vision Res. 1998 Sep;38(18):2721-34
references.pmid: 9775321
references.citation: Perception. 1982;10(6):667-81
references.pmid: 7110880
references.citation: Nature. 1992 Mar 12;356(6365):150-2
references.pmid: 1545866
references.citation: Science. 1987 May 1;236(4801):579-82
references.pmid: 3576186
references.citation: Nature. 1977 Apr 7;266(5602):554-6
references.pmid: 859622
references.citation: Nature. 1991 Apr 25;350(6320):699-702
references.pmid: 2023631
references.citation: J Vis. 2006 Dec 05;6(12):1380-95
references.pmid: 17209741
references.citation: J Neurophysiol. 2008 Jul;100(1):539-47
references.pmid: 18509081
references.citation: Vision Res. 1996 Sep;36(17):2657-63
references.pmid: 8917752
references.citation: Spat Vis. 2006;19(2-4):341-73
references.pmid: 16862844
references.citation: Cogn Neurosci. 2012;3(1):36-44
references.pmid: 24168648
references.citation: Spat Vis. 1997;10(4):437-42
references.pmid: 9176953
references.citation: Psychol Rev. 1985 Apr;92(2):173-211
references.pmid: 3887450
references.citation: Vision Res. 2001 Oct;41(23):2961-7
references.pmid: 11704235
references.citation: J Comp Neurol. 1990 Feb 22;292(4):497-523
references.pmid: 2324310
references.citation: Percept Psychophys. 1993 Feb;53(2):200-9
references.pmid: 8433918
references.citation: Nat Neurosci. 2005 Sep;8(9):1248-54
references.pmid: 16116454
references.citation: Vision Res. 1993 Mar-Apr;33(5-6):717-21
references.pmid: 8351843
references.citation: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2006 Mar;7(3):220-31
references.pmid: 16495943
references.citation: Vision Res. 2001 Jul;41(16):2065-77
references.pmid: 11403791
references.citation: Am J Optom Arch Am Acad Optom. 1954 Jul;31(7):329-41
references.pmid: 13180658
references.citation: Exp Brain Res. 1970 Nov 26;11(4):411-30
references.pmid: 5496938
references.citation: Spat Vis. 1997;10(4):433-6
references.pmid: 9176952
references.citation: Nature. 1992 Mar 12;356(6365):115
references.pmid: 1545860
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2006 Mar;18(3):335-47
references.pmid: 16513000
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2000 Dec 15;20(24):9310-9
references.pmid: 11125010
references.citation: Vision Res. 2006 Mar;46(6-7):1129-38
references.pmid: 16197977
references.citation: J Physiol. 1961 Dec;159:203-21
references.pmid: 13883391
references.citation: Nature. 1995 Oct 26;377(6551):731-4
references.pmid: 7477262
references.citation: J Opt Soc Am. 1963 Jun;53:741-4
references.pmid: 14035584
references.citation: J Neurosci. 1995 Mar;15(3 Pt 2):2417-33
references.pmid: 7891177
references.citation: Vision Res. 2001 Sep;41(20):2669-76
references.pmid: 11520512