Two-dot alignment across the physiological blind spot.

Abstract

Three competing hypotheses have been proposed for the cortical representation of the blind spot. These are: (i) the regions surrounding the blind spot maintain their spatial values; (ii) the opposite sides of the blind spot are represented adjacently at the cortex, so that the blind spot is "sewn-up"; and (iii) the blind spot is sewn-up with compensation occurring in the immediate surround of the blind spot, so that spatial values are distorted only in the immediate surround of the blind spot. To distinguish between these hypotheses we used a two-dot alignment task, with the two dots straddling the blind spot at varying dot separations. Thresholds in the two-dot alignment task are limited by the cortical separation of the two dots. When thresholds for alignment across the blind spot are compared with thresholds over intact retina at the same eccentricity, the three hypotheses predict: (i) no change in thresholds; (ii) a lowering of thresholds; and (iii) a lowering of thresholds but only at separations slightly greater than the diameter of the blind spot. Thresholds across the blind spot were closely similar to thresholds across intact retina. The results do not support a sewing-up (with or without compensation) of the blind spot. Rather, our results are consistent with a preservation of spatial values around the blind spot.