Human intracranial recordings link suppressed transients rather than 'filling-in' to perceptual continuity across blinks.
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.
Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Tal
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7940-7473
T
Golan
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, United States.
Ido
I
Davidesco
Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Meir
M
Meshulam
Department of Neurosurgery, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Manhasset, United States.|The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, United States.
David M
DM
Groppe
Department of Neurosurgery, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Manhasset, United States.|The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, United States.
Pierre
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0427-547X
P
Mégevand
Department of Neurosurgery, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Manhasset, United States.|The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, United States.
Erin M
EM
Yeagle
Department of Neurosurgery, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Manhasset, United States.|The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, United States.
Matthew S
MS
Goldfinger
Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Michal
M
Harel
Department of Neurophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.|NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, United States.
Lucia
L
Melloni
Department of Neurosurgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, United States.|Cognitive Neuroscience and Schizophrenia Program, Nathan Kline Institute, Orangeburg, United States.
Charles E
CE
Schroeder
Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.|Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Leon Y
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6147-5208
LY
Deouell
Department of Neurosurgery, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Manhasset, United States.|The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, United States.
Ashesh D
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7293-1101
AD
Mehta
Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Rafael
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2869-680X
R
Malach
D000328:Adult; D001767:Blinking; D000069280:Electrocorticography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008959:Models, Neurological; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
electrocorticography; human; neuroscience; visual cortex; visual perception
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