Abstract
Voluntary blinks are known to be accompanied by visual suppression that arises, at least in part, through nonretinal processes. We wanted to test the hypothesis that this suppression must arise as a corollary to the voluntary command to blink. We therefore examined visual sensitivity at the time of a blink that does not involve a voluntary command, namely the corneal reflex elicited by a puff of air. We found that sensitivity was reduced during these reflex blinks; the magnitude and time course of suppression were similar to those of voluntary blinks. We therefore adopt the view that visual suppression stems from signals from the common, efferent, blink pathway.
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These experiments were conducted in the Walter S. Hunter Laboratory of Psychology at Brown University. The research was supported by Grant EY-03169 from the National Eye Institute to Lorrin A. Riggs.
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Manning, K.A., Riggs, L.A. & Komenda, J.K. Reflex eyeblinks and visual suppression. Perception & Psychophysics 34, 250–256 (1983). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202953
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202953