“…Flankers outside Bouma's window can suppress crowding up to the performance level of the unflanked target ( Figure 2f , grid condition). Similar effects have been shown previously with various stimuli such as Verniers ( Manassi et al, 2012 ; Manassi et al, 2013 ; Manassi et al, 2015 ; Manassi et al, 2016 ; Sayim et al, 2010 ), Gabors ( Levi & Carney, 2009 ; Livne & Sagi, 2007 ; Maus, Fischer, & Whitney, 2011 ; Saarela et al, 2009 ; Saarela & Herzog, 2008 ), shapes ( Kimchi & Pirkner, 2015 ), letters ( Reuther & Chakravarthi, 2014 ; Saarela et al, 2010 ), textures ( Herrera-Esposito, Coen-Cagli, & Gomez-Sena, 2020 ), as well as in haptics ( Overvliet & Sayim, 2016 ) and audition ( Oberfeld & Stahn, 2012 ). Feature similarity is important but not decisive because strong crowding can also occur with flankers of different contrast polarity and color ( Manassi et al, 2012 ; Sayim et al, 2008 ).…”