Abstract
Motion-induced blindness (MIB) is a phenomenon in which a highly salient visual stimulus is rendered intermittently invisible by a non-overlapping moving mask (Bonneh et al. 2001).
Although the mechanisms by which MIB works are a matter of debate, experiments to date give us some clues as to what they might be. These include attentional mechanisms, grouping or depth ordering and surface completion. Low-level explanations such as sensory suppression, local adaptation or sensory masking have been rejected.
Furthermore, adaptation studies hint to the possibility that the locus of suppression during MIB is located downstream of V1 and upstream of inferotemporal cortex.
In the present study we used variants of the original MIB stimulus (such as long lines or multiple dots as targets as well as variations on the rotating-mask properties) to study the phenomenological details of the episodes of disappearance. Based on the different types of observed disappearances we propose that instead of a single suppression site, and a single suppression mechanism, there are multiple factors taking part in the phenomenon of disappearance during MIB (“high” and “low” level), that could be instantiated in multiple brain areas.
Supported by NIH grant EY13135