| During steady fixation, a peripherally presented figure on atextured background will fill in perceptually with the surroundingbackground. The underlying neural mechanisms will be studied for thefirst time in humans. FMRI will be used to localize a correlate ofthis illusion in visual cortex. MEG will be used to study theinteraction of neural signals related to figure and background duringfilling-in. These experiments are important for a deeperunderstanding of object recognition, because perceptual filling-in isa manifestation of mechanisms that underlie surface perception.Furthermore, current evidence indicates that plastic cortical changestriggered by receptor damage and subsequent recovery are akin tomechanisms involved in perceptual filling-in. |
