Isolating objective and subjective filling-in using the drift diffusion model.

Spatial context is known to influence the behavioral sensitivity (d') and the decision criterion (c) when detecting low-contrast targets. Of interest here is the effect on the decision criterion. Polat and Sagi (2007) demonstrated that, for a Gabor target positioned between two similar co-aligned high-contrast flankers, the observers' reports of seeing the target (Hit and False Alarm) decreased with increasing target-flanker distance.

Noise and the Perceptual Filling-in effect.

Nearby collinear flankers increase the false alarm rate (reports of the target being present when it is not) in a Yes-No experiment. This effect has been attributed to "filling-in" of the target location due to increased activity induced by the flankers. According to signal detection theory, false alarms are attributed to noise in the visual nervous system.

Training the brain to overcome the effect of aging on the human eye.

Presbyopia, from the Greek for aging eye, is, like death and taxes, inevitable. Presbyopia causes near vision to degrade with age, affecting virtually everyone over the age of 50. Presbyopia has multiple negative effects on the quality of vision and the quality of life, due to limitations on daily activities - in particular, reading.

Excitatory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex does not affect perceptual filling-in in healthy volunteers.

Collinear flankers increase the reports of the target present, an effect attributed to excitatory activation induced by the flankers on the target location, which consequently induces the filling-in effect (Polat & Sagi, 2007). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a powerful tool for non-invasive investigation of neural processing in the human brain. We explored how rTMS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC) affects filling-in perception in normal controls.

Major depression affects perceptual filling-in.

Background: Major depression disorder is a syndrome that involves impairment of cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and plasticity. In this study, we explored whether depression affects perception as well.

Methods: We used a recently developed paradigm that assesses the filling-in process by probing false-positive reports (false alarm [FA]), hit rates (pHit), sensitivity (d'), and decision criteria (Cr).