Abstract
Motion-induced blindness is one type of bistable perception in which a perceptually salient target amidst a moving field of distracters repeatedly disappears and reappears. We investigated the neural correlates of this phenomenon in humans by measuring fMRI responses in visual cortex while subjects reported disappearances and reappearances of the target. Surprisingly, perceptual invisibility of the target was coupled to an increase in neural activity in early visual cortex and V5/MT compared to when the target was visible. This increase was restricted to cortical retinotopic regions corresponding to the spatial location of the target. In contrast, activity in the fusiform gyrus was time-locked to switches in perception. We suggest that these findings result from an active process of completion of the field of distracters that acts locally in visual cortex and might be coupled to extra-visual areas through the fusiform gyrus.