Continuous Flash Suppression: Stimulus Fractionation rather than Integration

Moors, Pieter; Hesselmann, Guido; Wagemans, Johan; Ee, Raymond van

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2017.06.005

Cited by 89 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Third, temporal-frequency selectivity could offer possible explanations for phenomena such as stimulus fractionation in CFS (Moors, Hesselmann, Wagemans, & van Ee, 2017;Zadbood, Lee, & Blake, 2011). Bearing resemblance to independent form-and motion-suppressive processes in rivalry (Alais & Parker, 2006), CFS suppression was reportedly more effective on the form of the target than its temporal information.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Strength of continuous flash suppression is optimal when target and masker modulation rates are matched

Han

Alais

2018

Journal of Vision

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Continuous flash suppression (CFS) is a popular technique whereby a dynamic sequence of Mondrian patterns is presented to one eye in order to suppress a static target presented to the other eye. Although the effectiveness of CFS is generally assumed to increase with the flicker rate of the Mondrian masker, a recent study has shown that suppression is optimal at very low masker rates for sustained targets, but higher rates may be necessary for transient targets. Here we vary the modulation rates of the masker and target using temporally filtered dynamic noise, which allowed us to examine the relationship between target and masker frequency and its effect on suppression strength. Using these carefully controlled, temporally narrowband stimuli, we demonstrate a pattern of results showing that suppression is greatest when target and masker modulate at similar frequencies. This finding indicates the involvement of early temporal-frequency-tuned filters underlying CFS and is consistent with many existing findings in the CFS literature. We also find that these temporally selective processes are orientation selective, which points to an early cortical substrate such as neurons in primary visual cortex. Overall, our study reveals that CFS suppression can be maximized by carefully matching the masker and target in temporal frequency and orientation. More generally, we show the importance of using carefully controlled stimuli for elucidating the underlying mechanisms of CFS. This approach is important at a theoretical level, as it will enable comparison of CFS with existing models of binocular rivalry and interocular suppression and facilitate a unified explanatory framework.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Eye dominance was determined using the ''hole in the hand'' test, a variation on the Miles test (Miles, 1930). Participants were first seated a distance away (;150 cm) from an object placed at eye level.…”

Section: Eye-dominance Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strength of continuous flash suppression is optimal when target and masker modulation rates are matched

Han

Alais

2018

Journal of Vision

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“…What allows typically positioned objects to overcome inter-ocular suppression more efficiently? There is considerable agreement that processing under inter-ocular suppression is unlikely to suffice for a full semantic analysis (Gayet et al, 2014;Lin & He, 2009;Moors, Hesselmann, Wagemans, & van Ee, 2017). However, numerous studies have demonstrated that processing under CFS is modulated by experience: for example, access to awareness is facilitated for familiar faces (Gobbini et al, 2013), own-race faces (Stein, End, & Sterzer, 2014), objects of expertise (Stein, Reeder, & Peelen, 2016), and typically arranged multi-object arrangements (Stein et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Typical visual-field locations facilitate access to awareness for everyday objects

Kaiser

Cichy

2018

Cognition

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In real-world vision, humans are constantly confronted with complex environments that contain a multitude of objects. These environments are spatially structured, so that objects have different likelihoods of appearing in specific parts of the visual space. Our massive experience with such positional regularities prompts the hypothesis that the processing of individual objects varies in efficiency across the visual field: when objects are encountered in their typical locations (e.g., we are used to seeing lamps in the upper visual field and carpets in the lower visual field), they should be more efficiently perceived than when they are encountered in atypical locations (e.g., a lamp in the lower visual field and a carpet in the upper visual field). Here, we provide evidence for this hypothesis by showing that typical positioning facilitates an object's access to awareness. In two continuous flash suppression experiments, objects more efficiently overcame inter-ocular suppression when they were presented in visual-field locations that matched their typical locations in the environment, as compared to non-typical locations. This finding suggests that through extensive experience the visual system has adapted to the statistics of the environment. This adaptation may be particularly useful for rapid object individuation in natural scenes.

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“…Probably due to its power and versatility, in recent years CFS has become widely used to investigate visual processing outside of (subjective) conscious awareness. Still, the exact nature of the underlying neuronal mechanisms remains poorly understood [16][17][18][19][20] .…”

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confidence: 99%

The optimal spatial noise for continuous flash suppression masking is pink

Drewes

Zhu

Melcher

2020

Sci Rep

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Recently, the methodology of CFS and in particular the type of mask used to achieve suppression has been the subject of some attention, with studies addressing both temporal 19,20,22 and spatial aspects 19,23 of CFS masking. However, it is not clear from those results whether spatial density in general, or more specifically the number of edges, influenced the effectiveness of the masking. To investigate this question, we created a set of masks that vary in spatial density, but do not contain edges as would be found in Mondrian-style masks. These are similar to random noise stimuli and offered themselves for this purpose, as they are easy to control in terms of spectral properties. We therefore specifically aim to avoid the edge detection mechanisms in the visual system. Subsequently, we examine if a re-introduction of Mondrian-like edge patterns would lead to an enhanced suppression duration, and if and how much suppression effectiveness is reduced when removing the edges from the Mondrian masks. Methods Apparatus. We presented visual stimulation on a 21 inch Mitsubishi CRT monitor (1024 × 768 pixel resolution, 160 Hz frame rate). Subjects' heads were stabilized by a chin-and-head rest, while viewing the presentation through a mirror stereoscope. The physical viewing distance was 57 cm, while the optical distance was increased by approx. 9.5 cm due to the detour through the mirror stereoscope. The spatial distance between the left and right presentation areas as well as the angle of the mirrors were adjusted for each observer to achieve good fusion of the display. Visual stimuli were presented in MATLAB (TheMathWorks, Inc., 2012) using the Psychophysics Toolbox 24 .

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Continuous Flash Suppression: Stimulus Fractionation rather than Integration

Cited by 89 publications

References 17 publications

Strength of continuous flash suppression is optimal when target and masker modulation rates are matched

Strength of continuous flash suppression is optimal when target and masker modulation rates are matched

Typical visual-field locations facilitate access to awareness for everyday objects

The optimal spatial noise for continuous flash suppression masking is pink

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