IE114L LABORATORY EXPERIMENT

Activity No. 1: Mapping the Blind Spot

The back of each of your eyes contains a dense set of receptors that are sensitive to light
energy. These receptors convert light energy into electrical energy, which eventually is
transferred to your nervous system and your brain. These receptors, however, are not
distributed evenly across your eye. There is a central location, called the fovea, where the
receptors are very densely packed. Generally, when you stare at an object you are arranging
your eyes so that the object's image falls on the foveae of your eyes. Outside the fovea there
are fewer receptors. In fact, in some places there are no receptors at all.

There is a place in each eye where the optic nerve exits the back of the eye to send information
to the brain. This "hole" is called the optic disk. It contains no light sensitive receptors. As a
result, any light that falls on this part of the eye is undetected and invisible to you. Functionally,
this location on the eye is called the blind spot.

You have probably never noticed your blind spots (one in each eye). This is for several reasons.
First, each blind spot is far away from its eye's fovea. Because the fovea is typically where you
are "looking," you would not generally notice that something has disappeared into a blind spot.
Second, when you view the world with two eyes, one eye can compensate for the other eye's
blind spot. Light that falls into the blind spot of one eye generally does not fall on the blind spot
of the other eye. Third, your brain only processes the presence of information, not the absence.
Your brain does not notice a "hole" in the information it receives from the eye. It simply works
with the information it receives. In a similar way, the brain does not observe that we are unable
to view ultraviolet light. It has no knowledge about "missing" information.

With the proper experiment, however, it is possible to identify and map the blind spot which is
the purpose of this experiment. You will probably be surprised at how large the blind spot is. It
covers a large part of your visual field. The experiment used here is similar to a test used by eye
doctors to identify visual scotomas (damaged spots in the retina of your eye). Should you
consistently find "holes" in your data other than the blind spot, you may want to see an eye
doctor.
ADMINISTRATION TIME

Around 35 minutes, depending on level of impairment.

INSTRUCTIONS

You need to access CogLab: The Online Cognition Lab via website and log in to the account.

If you have logged in, you'll see a black rectangle below the screen and a small blue square on
the left side of the rectangle. Make sure that you can see the full area before you begin the lab.

The experiment is designed to map the blind spot of your right eye. In order for this lab to work,
you will need to follow the instructions carefully.

Close your left eye (or cover it with your hand or a patch). Arrange your screen/display so that
you can comfortably place your head so that your right eye is directly in front of the small blue
square and is about 11 inches/28 cm from the screen. This is the same as a US letter-size piece
of paper and approximately the same as an A4 piece of paper. If your eye is too far away from
the screen, your blind spot will not fall within the black rectangle.

When you start a trial, two things will happen simultaneously: The blue square will turn green
and a yellow dot will appear somewhere on the screen near the green square. One second
later, the dot will start to move to the right. Your task is to report if the dot disappears and re-
appears, all while keeping your right eye fixed on the fixation square and keeping your head
still.

It is very important that during a trial, you do not move your right eye: stay focused on the
fixation point. It is also important that you do not move your head. If you do either of these, it
will change the location of your blind spot relative to the screen.

There are a total of 19 trials. You can take a break if you wish, but try to stay in the same
position when you resume the experiment. If you move around, your blind spot will move with
you and the data will be a mix of the two positions you take. Most importantly, keep your right
eye 11 inches/28 cm from the display directly in front of, and constantly focused on, the small
blue/green square

TABLET SPECIFIC DETAILS

If you are using a tablet, tap the Start Next Trial button to begin. A dot will appear and will start
moving to the right. If it disappears, tap the Disappeared button. When you tap this button, it is
relabeled as Reappeared. If the dot does reappear, tap this button again. When the green
square turns blue again, that's the end of the trial.
COMPUTER SPECIFIC DETAILS

If you are using a computer, click the Start Next Trial button to begin. A dot will appear and will
start moving to the right. If it disappears, click the Disappeared button. When you click this
button, it is relabeled as Reappeared. If the dot does reappear, click this button again. When
the green square turns blue again, that's the end of the trial.

OUTCOME MEASURES

At the end of the experiment, you will be given two forms of data. First, the experimental
window will show a full array of dots colored green and red. These dots are in the same
locations you just viewed during the experiment. Any dot colored green is one that you
reported as visible. Any dot colored red is one that you reported as not visible. You should find
that there is a patch of red dots near the middle of the array. These are dots whose image fell
on the blind spot of your eye. Its precise location varies a bit among observers and varies a lot
depending on how far you are seated from the monitor. The same data is also presented in a
data table in a separate window. Here 1's and 0's are used to indicate seen and not seen dots
in the array, respectively.

SUMMARY DATA

attach the table showing regions where dot was seen (1) and not seen (0)

attach the graph showing the full array of dots colored green and red
DATA ANALYSIS

1. Try to interpret your data. Did you find a blind spot? One or more than one? Is it (are
they) clearly defined or fuzzy?
- As I have observed during the execution of the experiment, there is a specific area
where the dot disappear which is the lower portion of the area. Also, it appeared
not only once but several times. As you can see in the graph, the blind spots are not
consistent but it is clear that the blind spots are located at the lower part.
2. What would visual perception be like if you saw the world with only one eye and
simulation sometimes fell on the blind spot?
- Obviously, if we only had one eye we cannot function well. Also, the convergence
phase of vision development would never take place, and the third dimension of
depth in the figure we are watching would be missing. And if the simulation fell on
the blind spot, it will be a total black out.
3. What would visual perception be like if we had no blind spots at all?
- If we didn’t have a blind spot, our vision would not exist. Our whole eye would turn
in to the blind spot itself.
4. Not everyone will obtain blind spots that are the same size or in the same location.
Suggest some reasons why this might happen.
- Because everything that affects the retina or optic nerve fibers generates a scotoma
or blind spot, they are completely distinct. The scotoma will be significant if the area
of injured nerves is large. An infarct, retinal detachment, retinal bleed, glaucoma
damage, and other conditions can all induce scotomas of varying sizes in different
regions.
REFERENCES

Brown, R. J. & Thurmond, J. B. (1993). Pre-attentive and cognitive effects on perceptual

Ramachandran, V. S. (1992). Blind spots. Scientific American, 266, 86-91.

Sergent, J. (1988). An investigation into perceptual completion in blind areas of the visual
field. Brain, 111,347-373.