The Influence of Depth Context on Blind Spot Filling-in

This study was published in Korean (Hangul) under the Korean Journal of Cognitive Science, Volume 18. The abstract has been translated here for convenience.

Abstract

This study verified the effects of bottom-up and top-down information on blind spot filling through two psychophysical experiments. In both experiments, two stimuli with the same probability of filling the blind spot were presented to the blind spot. When these two stimuli compete to fill the blind spot, the depth context of one of the stimuli was manipulated to examine the interaction between upward and downward factors. Depth context was defined as the relative depth between the stimuli filled in the blind spot and the stimuli around the blind spot, and participants reported the perceptual depth of the target filled in the blind spot. As a result of the experiment, it was found that the blind spots were mostly filled with stimuli with added depth context, which is top-down information, rather than stimuli with only bottom-up information. Through controlled experiments, it was found that this depth perception was not due to the resolution of peripheral vision where the blind spot was located. The above experimental results suggest that the top-down processing process, such as depth context information, also affects the blind spot filling process.

Park, K.M., Cha, O., Kim, S., Im, H.Y., Chong, S.C., (2007). The Influence of Depth Context on Blind Spot Filling-in. Korean Journal of Cognitive Science, 18, 351-370.