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Related Experiment Videos

Prime-sight in a blindsight subject.

Lawrence Weiskrantz1, Alan Cowey, Iona Hodinott-Hill

  • 1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK. larry.weiskrantz@psy.ox.ac.uk

Nature Neuroscience
|January 15, 2002
PubMed
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Individuals with blindsight, a condition from visual cortex damage, can see after-images (prime-sight) of stimuli they consciously cannot perceive. This study compares conscious and unconscious visual processing.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Blindsight is the ability to respond to visual stimuli in a field defect without conscious visual experience.
  • Damage to the visual cortex can cause a field defect, leading to blindsight.
  • Prime-sight, or visible after-images, were reported by a subject with blindsight.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the phenomenon of prime-sight in a subject with blindsight.
  • To compare the properties of prime-sight with the blindsight capacity.
  • To explore the relationship between conscious and unconscious neural processing of visual events.

Main Methods:

  • Investigated prime-sight using projected visual stimuli with varying colors, contrasts, shapes, and spatial frequencies.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Measured after-image properties: duration, size scaling, color, and interocular transfer.
  • Compared the capabilities of blindsight and prime-sight modes in a subject with visual cortex damage.

    • Main Results:

    • A subject with blindsight reported visible after-images (prime-sight) of stimuli they could not consciously see.
    • Properties of after-images were systematically measured and analyzed.
    • The study provided a comparison between conscious (prime-sight) and unconscious (blindsight) visual processing.

    Conclusions:

    • Prime-sight offers a unique window into the processing of visual information outside of conscious awareness.
    • Comparing blindsight and prime-sight can elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying conscious and unconscious perception.
    • This research highlights the complex nature of visual processing following visual cortex damage.