The Vanishing of the Sun: A Manifestation of Cortical Plasticity

In Monet’s painting Impression. Rising Sun, when one steadily fixates the image of a sailor in the center of the picture for several seconds, the solar disk progressively disappears, being replaced in both brightness and color by the surrounding sky. This “filling-in” phenomenon reflects a process o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Survey of ophthalmology 1998-03, Vol.42 (5), p.449-452
Main Authors: Safran, Avinoam B, Landis, Theodor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Color Perception - physiology
cortical plasticity • filling-in • impressionism • scotoma • visual field
Eye and associated structures. Visual pathways and centers. Vision
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Illusions
Medicine in the Arts
Neuronal Plasticity - physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Visual Cortex - physiology
Visual Fields - physiology
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Summary:In Monet’s painting Impression. Rising Sun, when one steadily fixates the image of a sailor in the center of the picture for several seconds, the solar disk progressively disappears, being replaced in both brightness and color by the surrounding sky. This “filling-in” phenomenon reflects a process of cortical remapping, similar to the one that occurs in the presence of visual field defects. Filling-in is largely ignored by clinicians, despite its major implications in ophthalmologic practice, especially the nonrecognition of visual field deficits. (Surv Ophthalmol 42:449–452, 1998.
ISSN:0039-6257
1879-3304
DOI:10.1016/S0039-6257(97)00134-3