Metacontrast and paracontrast suppression of a contourless area

Abstract Metacontrast is usually explained as a suppression of target contour. Here we demonstrate brightness suppression of a contourless area of a target by an adjacent mask. This “area suppression” cannot be due to contour suppression. Nevertheless, it follows a U-shaped function of time similar to those obtained in traditional metacontrast, except that “forward masking” is equal in strength to backward masking. An explanation in terms of interference with a “filling-in” process is proposed.

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