Trans-saccadic priming in hemianopia: Sighted-field sensitivity is boosted by a blind-field prime

► Awareness of a blind-field stimulus increased when a saccade was about to bring that stimulus into the sighted field. ► A blind-field prime facilitated detection of a near-threshold sighted field stimulus in the same location. ► Post-saccadic enhanced sensitivity in the sighted field was specific to the spatial location previously occupied by the blind-field target. We experience visual stability despite shifts of the visual array across the retina produced by eye movements. A process known as remapping is thought to keep track of the spatial locations of objects as they move on the retina. We explored remapping in damaged visual cortex by presenting a stimulus in the blind field of two patients with hemianopia. When they executed a saccadic eye movement that would bring the stimulated location into the sighted field, reported awareness of the stimulus increased, even though the stimulus was removed before the saccade began and so never actually fell in the sighted field. Moreover, when a location was primed by a blind-field stimulus and then brought into the sighted field by a saccade, detection sensitivity for near-threshold targets appearing at this location increased dramatically. The results demonstrate that brain areas supporting conscious vision are not necessary for remapping, and suggest visual stability is maintained for salient objects even when they are not consciously perceived.