Resolving visual motion through perceptual gaps.

Perceptual gaps can be caused by objects in the foreground temporarily occluding objects in the background or by eyeblinks, which briefly but frequently interrupt visual information. Resolving visual motion across perceptual gaps is particularly challenging, as object position changes during the gap. We examine how visual motion is maintained and updated through externally driven (occlusion) and internally driven (eyeblinks) perceptual gaps. Focusing on both phenomenology and potential mechanisms such as suppression, extrapolation, and integration, we present a framework for how perceptual gaps are resolved over space and time. We finish by highlighting critical questions and directions for future work. Perceptual gaps occur frequently due to eyeblinks and occlusion. Processing information through perceptual gaps is particularly challenging for moving stimuli, as dynamic information changes while the object is briefly out of sight. Our perceptual experience suggests that stimulus information such as position is maintained throughout the gap. Suppression, extrapolation, and integration all play a role in representing visual motion through perceptual gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]