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Retinotopic activity in V1 reflects the perceived and not the retinal size of an afterimage

Nature Neuroscience volume 15, pages 540–542 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

An afterimage looks larger when one fixates on a distant than on a closer surface. We show that the retinotopic activity in the primary visual cortex (V1) associated with viewing an afterimage is modulated by perceived size, even when the size of the retinal image remains constant. This suggests that V1 has an important role in size constancy when the viewing distance of the stimulus changes.

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Figure 1: Methods.
Figure 2: Results.

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Acknowledgements

This work is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Richard Gregory, whose scientific curiosity was a great source of inspiration for us. We would also like to thank D. Vendramini and L. Strother for their technical support, J. Ladich for constructing our apparatus, A. McLean and K. Krueger for operating the MRI scanner and G. Buckingham for comments. This research was supported by an Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Postdoctoral Award to I.S., by an Ontario Mental Health Foundation Postdoctoral Award to P.A.C. and by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to M.A.G.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

    Irene Sperandio, Philippe A Chouinard & Melvyn A Goodale

  2. Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

    Irene Sperandio, Philippe A Chouinard & Melvyn A Goodale

Authors
  1. Irene Sperandio
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  2. Philippe A Chouinard
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  3. Melvyn A Goodale
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Correspondence to Melvyn A Goodale.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Sections 1–5, Supplementary Figures 1–6, Supplementary Table 1 (PDF 838 kb)

Supplementary Video 1

Changes in V1 activation over time for subject 1. (MPG 11986 kb)

Supplementary Video 2

Changes in V1 activation over time for subject 2. (MPG 11756 kb)

Supplementary Video 3

Changes in V1 activation over time for subject 3. (MPG 11852 kb)

Supplementary Video 4

Changes in V1 activation over time for subject 4. (MPG 12462 kb)

Supplementary Video 5

Changes in V1 activation over time for subject 5. (MPG 11288 kb)

Supplementary Video 6

Changes in V1 activation over time for subject 6. (MPG 11728 kb)

Supplementary Video 7

Changes in V1 activation over time for subject 7. (MPG 11330 kb)

Supplementary Video 8

Changes in V1 activation over time for subject 8. (MPG 11730 kb)

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Sperandio, I., Chouinard, P. & Goodale, M. Retinotopic activity in V1 reflects the perceived and not the retinal size of an afterimage. Nat Neurosci 15, 540–542 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3069

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