On the Failure of Completion of Lines Passing through the Blind Regions Related to the Optic Disc,and to Scotomas of Migraine Auras

Abstract

We compared the appearance of a line passing through the optic-disc blind spot with that of lines passing just medial or just lateral to the blind spot. Though there is no well-defined gap in the line, we see a consistent difference, which is hard to describe. On the other hand, during a migraine aura experienced by one of us, lines passing through scintillating scotomas showed clear sharply defined gaps.

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References

von Helmholtz

, 1867/1962 Treatise on Physiological Optics volume 3 (New York: Dover, 1962); English translation by Southall

J P C

, for the Optical Society of America (1925) from the 3rd German edition of Handbuch der physiologischen Optik (first published in 1867, Leipzig: Voss)

Hubel

, 1987

“Vision in dim light”

Nature 388 33–33. The blind-spot mapping program can be found in the website of David Hubel under “Blind spot” at http://hubel.med.harvard.edu/ilusion.htm