The Dynamics of Perceptual Filling-In and Motion Induced Blindness During Binocular Rivalry

Motion induced blindness (MIB) and perceptual filling-in (PFI) are phenomena wherein the visibility of a target stimulus fluctuates when presented upon a globally changing pattern. Similarities in the temporal dynamics of these phenomena and that of binocular rivalry (BR) have led researchers to hypothesize that they are all forms of perceptual rivalry that share a single common oscillatory mechanism, though this hypothesis has been challenged by counterevidence from Jaworska and Lages’ (2014). In the present study, the dynamics of MIB and PFI were examined during BR and during identical conditions that did not induce BR. Results indicated no effect of BR on MIB. However, BR significantly increased all measures of PFI. Furthermore, MIB and PFI dynamics, when compared to each other, expressed marked differences, regardless of BR. These results are counterintuitive given the current literature, which goes so far as to suggest that MIB and PFI are in fact the same phenomena under differing perceptual conditions (e.g., New & Scholl, 2008)