A multifaceted individual differences approach to investigating nonretinal vision

Nonretinal vision is a term for visual experience in the absence of visual stimulation (e.g., visual imagery, visual working memory, attentional templates). Many previous studies have found that humans can use nonretinal vision to influence visual perceptual task performance (e.g., holding the identity of an upcoming target in mind prior to visual search), but different studies have made vastly different conclusions about the extent of this influence. One issue is that individual differences in nonretinal vision are rarely taken into account, but they may greatly impact perception. For example, there is a wide spectrum of nonretinal visual vividness: on one end, there are people who cannot visualize even concrete objects (aphantasia). On the other end, some people have such strong nonretinal vividness that it interferes with visual perception on a daily basis, as in the case of synaesthesia (e.g., uncontrollably imagining colors attached to letters of the alphabet). The main goal of the current project is to investigate the extent to which individual differences impact behavioral and cortical correlations between nonretinal vision and visual perception.

Laufzeit:

01.06.2018 – 31.05.2021