Central sources of visual masking: Indexing structures supporting seeing at a single, brief glance

SummaryWhen two briefly exposed, spatially overlapping visual fields are presented dichoptically, the identifiability of the first field is a J-shaped function of the interval separating their onsets. Three distinct sources of central masking are inferred from the selective influence of variables at different onset asynchronies. In integration through common synthesis, two fields presented at or near simultaneous onset yield one iconic representation. The distinctiveness of this source is inferred from the selective influence of eye dominance at and near simultaneous onset. At longer onset asynchronies, the selective influence of variables such as mask contrast and degree of contour overlap imply a second source of masking. This source was identified with the inhibition of sustained channels by transient channels reported elsewhere. Interchannel inhibition is proposed to affect the fidelity of the iconic representation, but here the imprecision is due to loss of form-relevant information on the first field. At yet longer onset asynchronies, where the fields are phenomenally separate, a third set of variables (e.g., words vs. nonwords and left vs. right visual fields) show their influence. These effects are taken as evidence of a replacement principle: the iconic representation of the second field directs attention from that of the first field. Here, first-field identifiability is constrained by time rather than by impoverished data.In a final series of experiments, central three-field interactions are demonstrated. A field, inserted into the temporal gap between two fields, is perceptually impaired even though it is separated from the first and third fields by intervals at which, individually, neither field is an effective mask. This second-field depression is accompanied by a first-field enhancement. The three sources of central masking are hard pressed to account for the three-field effects.

[1]  Charles W. Eriksen,et al.  Interocular non-independence , 1968 .

[2]  W. B. Pillsbury.  A study in apperception , 1897 .

[3]  M. Mason.  Reading Ability and Letter Search Time: Effects of Orthographic Structure Defined by Single-Letter Positional Frequency. , 1975 .

[4]  D. Raab,et al.  Reaction time to stimuli masked by metacontrast. , 1962, Journal of experimental psychology.

[5]  C W Eriksen,et al.  Information processing in visual search: A continuous flow conception and experimental results , 1979, Perception & psychophysics.

[6]  B G Breitmeyer,et al.  Implications of sustained and transient channels for theories of visual pattern masking, saccadic suppression, and information processing. , 1976, Psychological review.

[7]  Donald E. Broadbent,et al.  Decision and stress , 1971 .

[8]  D. Kahneman.  Method, findings, and theory in studies of visual masking. , 1968, Psychological bulletin.

[9]  M. White,et al.  Laterality differences in perception: a review. , 1969, Psychological bulletin.

[10]  M. Mishkin,et al.  Word recognition as a function of retinal locus. , 1952, Journal of experimental psychology.

[11]  C F Michaels,et al.  Visual Storage or Visual Masking? An Analysis of the “Retroactive Contour Enhancement” Effect , 1974, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[12]  D G Purcell,et al.  Visual angle and the word superiority effect , 1978, Memory & cognition.

[13]  D N Robinson,et al.  Disinhibition of Visually Masked Stimuli , 1966, Science.

[14]  W. F. McKeever,et al.  Bilateral tachistoscopic word recognition as a function of hemisphere stimulated and interhemispheric transfer time. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[15]  W. R. Garner.  The Processing of Information and Structure , 1974 .

[16]  A. O. Dick,et al.  Effect of eye movements on backward masking and perceived location , 1973 .

[17]  Neal F. Johnson,et al.  On the function of letters in word identification: Some data and a preliminary model , 1975 .

[18]  T. Walsh.  The joint effect of forward and backward visual masking: Some comments on Uttal’s “Character in the hole” experiment , 1971 .

[19]  D. Robinson,et al.  Visual disinhibition with binocular and interocular presentations. , 1968, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[20]  J L Bradshaw,et al.  Interhemispheric effects on reaction time to verbal and nonverbal visual stimuli. , 1971, Journal of experimental psychology.

[21]  William R. Uttal.  A reply to Walsh , 1971 .

[22]  P H Schiller,et al.  Forward and backward masking: a comparison. , 1966, Canadian journal of psychology.

[23]  T. Spencer,et al.  Evidence for an interruption theory of backward masking. , 1970, Journal of experimental psychology.

[24]  T Bachmann,et al.  Integration and Interruption in the Masking of Form by Form , 1976, Perception.

[25]  Morris Moscovitch,et al.  Early versus late stages of processing and their relation to functional hemispheric asymmetries in face recognition. , 1976 .

[26]  A. O. Dick.  Iconic memory and its relation to perceptual processing and other memory mechanisms , 1974 .

[27]  W. Chase,et al.  Visual information processing. , 1974 .

[28]  Lester E. Krueger,et al.  Evidence for directional scanning with the order-of-report factor excluded. , 1976 .

[29]  Jozef Cohen,et al.  Neural model for the Stevens’ power law , 1971 .

[30]  D. Kimura.  Dual functional asymmetry of the brain in visual perception , 1966 .

[31]  Daniel N. Robinson,et al.  Backward masking, disinhibition, and hypothesized neural networks , 1971 .

[32]  W. Eichelman,et al.  Familiarity effects in the simultaneous matching task. , 1970 .

[33]  C W Eriksen,et al.  Some temporal characteristics of visual pattern perception. , 1967, Journal of experimental psychology.

[34]  Michael T. Turvey,et al.  Contrasting orientations to the theory of visual information processing. , 1977 .

[35]  R. E. Till,et al.  Age differences in peripheral perceptual processing: a monoptic backward masking investigation. , 1978, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[36]  M. Kinsbourne.  The cerebral basis of lateral asymmetries in attention. , 1970, Acta psychologica.

[37]  Ralph Norman Haber,et al.  Clarity and recognition of masked and degraded stimuli , 1968 .

[38]  J Ross,et al.  Short-term memory in stereopsis. , 1974, Vision research.

[39]  William R. Uttal.  The character in the hole experiment: Interaction of forward and backward masking of alphabetic character recognition by dynamic visual noise (OVN) , 1969 .

[40]  W N Dember,et al.  Recovery of Masked Visual Targets by Inhibition of the Masking Stimulus , 1967, Science.

[41]  J B Hellige,et al.  Figural relationship effects and mechanisms of visual masking. , 1979, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[42]  M. Turvey.  On peripheral and central processes in vision: inferences from an information-processing analysis of masking with patterned stimuli. , 1973, Psychological review.

[43]  E R HARCUM,et al.  Effects of Stimulus Reversals on Lateral Dominance in Word Recognition , 1963, Perceptual and motor skills.

[44]  G. R. Engel,et al.  On The Functional Relationship Between Word Identification and Letter Probability. , 1974 .

[45]  P. C. DODWELL,et al.  A Theory of Binocular Fusion , 1963, Nature.

[46]  P C Dodwell,et al.  Retroactive Contour Enhancement: A New Visual Storage Effect , 1972, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[47]  J. M. Cattell.  THE TIME TAKEN UP BY CEREBRAL OPERATIONS , 1886 .

[48]  G. Cohen.  Hemispheric differences in serial versus parallel precessing. , 1973, Journal of experimental psychology.

[49]  William R. Uttalt.  The effect of interval and number on masking with dot bursts , 1971 .

[50]  G. Sperling,et al.  Successive approximations to a model for short term memory. , 1967, Acta psychologica.

[51]  E. Smith,et al.  When preparation fails: disruptive effects of prior information on perceptual recognition. , 1976, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[52]  D. D. Wheeler.  Processes in word recognition , 1970 .

[53]  G. Tassinari,et al.  Iconic storage in the two hemispheres. , 1979, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[54]  G. Claxton,et al.  Sources of information in word perception. , 1975 .

[55]  Gerald S. Wasserman,et al.  A modified multiplicative rule describes backward masking in a photoreceptor , 1976, Vision Research.

[56]  Philip M. Merikle,et al.  On the nature of metacontrast with complex targets and masks. , 1977 .

[57]  Jacobson Jz.  Effects of association upon masking and reading latency. , 1973 .

[58]  Claire F. Michaels,et al.  An onset to onset rule for binocular integration in the Mach-Dvorak illusion , 1977, Vision Research.

[59]  G. M. Reicher.  Perceptual recognition as a function of meaninfulness of stimulus material. , 1969, Journal of experimental psychology.

[60]  J. Baron,et al.  An analysis of the word-superiority effect☆ , 1973 .

[61]  W. Heron,et al.  Perception as a function of retinal locus and attention. , 1957, The American journal of psychology.

[62]  E. Warrington,et al.  Further Studies on the Masking of brief Visual Stimuli by a Random Pattern , 1962 .

[63]  C W Eriksen,et al.  Summation and interaction of successive masking stimuli in visual perception. , 1969, The American journal of psychology.

[64]  G M Long,et al.  Spare the rod and spoil the icon. , 1979, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[65]  George Sperling,et al.  Information retrieval from two rapidly consecutive stimuli: A new analysis , 1971 .

[66]  A. O. Dick,et al.  On the “recovery” of masked targets , 1972 .

[67]  Naomi Weisstein,et al.  W-shaped and U-shaped functions obtained for monoptic and dichoptic disk-disk masking , 1971 .

[68]  Charles W. Eriksen,et al.  Temporal luminance summation effects in backward and forward masking , 1966 .

[69]  F Smith,et al.  Temporal factors in visual information processing. , 1966, Canadian journal of psychology.

[70]  James L. McClelland.  On the time relations of mental processes: An examination of systems of processes in cascade. , 1979 .

[71]  Daniel G Bobrow,et al.  On data-limited and resource-limited processes , 1975, Cognitive Psychology.

[72]  N. Moray.  Listening and attention , 1970 .

[73]  William R. Uttal.  An autocorrelation theory of visual form detection: A computer experiment and a computer model , 1975 .

[74]  L E Ross,et al.  Laterality differences and practice effects under central backward masking conditions , 1977, Memory & cognition.

[75]  E. Gibson,et al.  COMPARISON OF MEANINGFULNESS AND PRONUNCIABILITY AS GROUPING PRINCIPLES IN THE PERCEPTION AND RETENTION OF VERBAL MATERIAL. , 1964, Journal of experimental psychology.

[76]  William R. Uttal,et al.  An autocorrelation theory of form detection , 1975 .

[77]  Nigel Long,et al.  The recovery of a visually masked target , 1971 .

[78]  J. Z. Jacobson,et al.  Geometric and semantic similarity in visual masking. , 1978, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[79]  E. Warrington,et al.  The Effect of an After-coming Random Pattern on the Perception of Brief Visual Stimuli , 1962 .

[80]  J. Gibson.  The Senses Considered As Perceptual Systems , 1967 .