Fundus pigmentation and equiluminant moving phantoms.

Visual phantoms are a perceptual completion illusion wherein contours and surfaces are seen where none physically exist. The visibility of moving phantoms was measured with equiluminant and near equiluminant chromatic inducing gratings for observers having a fundus classified as either darkly or lightly pigmented. Phantom visibility was greatest for observers with a lightly compared to a darkly pigmented fundus with the two groups showing differences in visibility as a function of background luminance. The results are discussed relative to equiluminant stationary phantom findings and a proposed relationship between phantom visibility and magnocellular pathway activity.