Temporal Aspects of Selective Masking

1975 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas G. Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Iconic Memory ◽  
Partial Report ◽  
Masking Effect ◽  
Minimal Effect ◽  
Selective Effect ◽  
Random Letter ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
Masking Stimulus

In two experiments, rows of random letter sequences were presented for 100 ms and were patterned masked at varying delays after display offset. In Experiment I recall was probed by visual partial report cues, while auditory probes were employed in Experiment II. Compared to no-masking control conditions, the masking stimulus had a selective effect at the different positions of the rows. The masking stimulus produced the largest decrements in recall of letters from the centre positions of the displays but had a minimal effect on performance at either end of the rows. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that improvements in recall were limited to the centre positions of the rows at increased delays of mask. Subsidiary analyses revealed that processing of the end letters of the displays terminates shortly after display offset while processing of the centre letters continues for at least 500 ms. The results are consistent with the notion that processing of multi-letter arrays commences at the ends of the rows and that the selective masking effect reflects the order of processing of the contents of iconic memory. However, these results were evident only in Experiment II which employed auditory partial report cues. When the partial report cues were visual, there were no effects of masking and minimal increases in performance at increased delays of mask. The discrepant results of the two experiments are discussed in terms of process interruption caused by obligatory attention to the partial report cues.

Opponent Hues in Visual Masking

1978 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 979-983
Author(s):  
Michael Gamble
Keyword(s):  
Test Stimulus ◽  
Color Vision ◽  
Visual Masking ◽  
Masking Effect ◽  
Subjective Confidence ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Masking Stimulus ◽  
Temporal Interactions ◽  
Temporal Sequences ◽  
Forward Sequence

Temporal interactions among opponent and non-opponent hues were investigated in a visual masking paradigm in which both backward and forward temporal sequences were employed. Subjective confidence ratings rather than identification thresholds alone served as response indicators for masking sequences. Results indicate that in the backward sequence (test stimulus followed by masking stimulus) a greater masking effect occurred when the stimuli were of non-opponent hue pairs (red-yellow, red-blue, green-yellow, green-blue) than when compared with opponent hue pairs (red-green, yellow-blue). For the forward sequence (test stimulus preceded by masking stimulus) the masking effect was reduced when compared with the backward sequence. These findings appear to reflect the presumed temporal and spatial antagonistic qualities of opponent hue processes as postulated in the Hering model of color vision.

Selective Masking and Processing Strategy

1973 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 542-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian E. Butler ◽  
Philip M. Merikle
Keyword(s):  
Masking Effect ◽  
Processing Strategy ◽  
Masking Stimulus

A patterned masking stimulus was presented immediately following a 100-ms exposure of a centrally-fixated, eight-letter row. The bar-marker probe, indicating which letter to report, appeared either at onset (simultaneous cue), or at offset (delayed cue) of a letter row. A selective-masking effect—greater masking at the centre positions than at the ends of a row—was obtained with the delayed cue. With the simultaneous cue, all positions were masked and there was no selective-masking effect. These results indicate that the effects of a patterned masking stimulus are dependent upon the processing strategy, and they support previous interpretations of selective masking which state that it is produced by an ends-first processing strategy.

scholarly journals Readout From Iconic Memory and Selective Spatial Attention Involve Similar Neural Processes

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 901-909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian C. Ruff ◽  
Árni Kristjánsson ◽  
Jon Driver
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Iconic Memory ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Partial Report ◽  
Visual Array ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evidence ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
The Right ◽  
Lateral Occipital Cortex

Iconic memory and spatial attention are often considered separately, but they may have functional similarities. Here we provide functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence for some common underlying neural effects. Subjects judged three visual stimuli in one hemifield of a bilateral array comprising six stimuli. The relevant hemifield for partial report was indicated by an auditory cue, administered either before the visual array (precue, spatial attention) or shortly after the array (postcue, iconic memory). Pre- and postcues led to similar activity modulations in lateral occipital cortex contralateral to the cued side. This finding indicates that readout from iconic memory can have some neural effects similar to those of spatial attention. We also found common bilateral activation of a fronto-parietal network for postcue and precue trials. These neuroimaging data suggest that some common neural mechanisms underlie selective spatial attention and readout from iconic memory. Some differences were also found; compared with precues, postcues led to higher activity in the right middle frontal gyrus.

The Effect of Repetition on Iconic Memory

1974 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas V. Merluzzi ◽  
Neal F. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Present Experiment ◽  
Iconic Memory ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Partial Report ◽  
Permanent Memory ◽  
The Difference

The present experiment examined the influence of repetition on iconic memory using the Sperling (1960) procedure. It was assumed that the whole-report procedure would estimate only information available from a somewhat more permanent memory system than the icon, while the partial report would estimate both that information and the information available in the icon. The difference between the whole and partial report was assumed to measure information available only in the icon. Across a series of 160 displays one particular display occurred half the time (80 repetitions). The results indicated that the repetition influenced recall from the more permanent memory system assessed by whole report, but had no influence on the information available from the icon (partial report minus whole report).

Is Stimulus Structure in the Mind's Eye? An Examination of Dimensional Structure in Iconic Memory

1987 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Burns
Keyword(s):  
Iconic Memory ◽  
Feature Integration ◽  
Partial Report ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Radial Line ◽  
Perceptual Development ◽  
Circle Size ◽  
Initial Processing ◽  
Mind's Eye

Three experiments examined integral and separable dimensions as attentional selective cues from iconic memory. Sperling's partial-report task was employed with physically separable and physically integral stimuli. Stimulus displays were varied in terms of the redundancy of the irrelevant non-cued dimensions—i.e. control, correlated, and orthogonal conditions within Garner's (1974a) framework—and selective readout performance was measured. The results demonstrate that, in initial processing, physically separable dimensions (e.g., circle size vs. angle of radial line) can be selectively attended to as independent dimensions, but physically integral dimensions (e.g., size vs. brightness and height vs. width) can only be represented as wholistic integral objects. Implications of these findings for current models of feature integration and perceptual development are discussed.

Forward masking of auditory nerve fiber responses

1979 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 1083-1107 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Harris ◽  
P. Dallos
Keyword(s):  
Time Constant ◽  
Auditory Nerve ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Forward Masking ◽  
Response Magnitude ◽  
Masking Effect ◽  
Masker Level ◽  
Frequency Threshold ◽  
Masking Stimulus ◽  
Probe Response

1. Responses of single fibers were obtained from the auditory nerve of chinchillas. Tone-burst stimuli consisted of a masking stimulus followed by a probe stimulus. Forward masking of a fiber's response is defined as a reduction in the magnitude of the probe-evoked response caused by the addition of the masking stimulus. 2. The recovery of probe response magnitude as a function of the time interval between masker offset and probe onset (delta T) follows an exponential time course. A relationship between the time course or magnitude of poststimulus recovery and the characteristic frequency (CF) of a fiber was not detected. 3. The iso-forward masking contour near the threshold of the masking effect across masker frequencies approximates a fiber's frequency threshold curve (FTC). In other words, forward masking tuning curves are essentially the same as frequency threshold curves. 4. The frequency dependence of forward masking is compared to that of two-tone suppression. Tonal stimuli outside the boundaries of a fiber's FTC that produce two-tone suppression are ineffective forward maskers. Certain frequency/intensity combinations within the FTC may produce both suppression and forward masking and tones within the remaining area of the FTC produce no suppression but are effective forward maskers. 5. Both the time course and the magnitude of the forward masking effect are dependent on the discharge rate evoked by the masker regardless of the masker's absolute level or spectral content. An increase in masker-evoked excitation causes an increase in time constant and a greater reduction in probe response magnitude, rd. The function relating rd to masker level parallels the firing rate/masker level function up to 40 dB above response threshold. 6. A decrease in masker duration from 100 ms leads to a decrease in both rd and the time constant of recovery. There is no significant difference between the 100 and 200 ms duration conditions. 7. Forward masking in single fibers is related to the period of poststimulus recovery of spontaneous activity, a component of a fiber's response pattern to the masker, and this component is tentatively identified as a period of recovery from short-term adaptation.

Attentional Factors in Iconic Memory and Visible Persistence

1987 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard B. Orenstein ◽  
Dennis H. Holding
Keyword(s):  
Iconic Memory ◽  
Visible Persistence ◽  
Partial Report

Arrays of 12 fragmentary letters were followed, at various intervals, by one randomly selected complementary letter fragment. On half the trials a partial-report cue (a vertical bar-marker) coincided with the second completion fragment. In Experiment 1 subjects fixated the centre of the to-be-identified letter location, whereas in Experiment 2 subjects fixated the centre of the array. In Experiment 1, the degree of integration and time between successive fragments were inversely related. Integration of fragmentary letters in Experiment 2, however, was uniformly low in the experimental and guessing control conditions. The results were discussed in terms of recent non-traditional accounts of iconic storage that emphasize post-categorical processing.

Processing Order in Visual Perception

1976 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip M. Merikle ◽  
Marcia J. Glick
Keyword(s):  
Exposure Duration ◽  
The Other ◽  
Partial Report ◽  
Rapid Rate ◽  
Tachistoscopic Presentation ◽  
Processing Order ◽  
Report Accuracy ◽  
Masking Stimulus ◽  
The Right ◽  
Better Than

Initial increases in the availability of items for report following tachistoscopic presentation of centrally-fixated rows of seven random letters were directly evaluated by measuring report accuracy following exposure durations of 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 ms. A partial-report technique was used, and each presentation of a letter row was immediately followed by the presentation of a masking stimulus. Each of 10 subjects received 840 trials which reflected 24 trials for each exposure-duration by position-probed combination. The letters at both ends of a row became available for report prior to the centre letters. In addition, report of the left-most letter was consistently better than report of the right-most letter, and report of the centre item at fixation improved at a more rapid rate with increased exposure duration than report of the other centre letters. This pattern of results provides support for certain components of several different previous proposals concerning the order in which individual items from multi-element displays become available for report.

scholarly journals Revisiting the prioritization of emotional information in iconic memory

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 191507
Author(s):  
Florian Kattner ◽  
Alexandra Clausen
Keyword(s):  
Visual Recognition ◽  
Iconic Memory ◽  
Partial Report ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Emotional Stimuli ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Verbal Recall ◽  
Replication Experiment ◽  
Central Arrow ◽  
Selection Of

In this replication study, the previously reported prioritization of emotional stimuli in iconic memory (Kuhbandner et al . 2011. Psychol. Sci. 22 , 695–700. (doi:10.1177/0956797611406445)) was reinvestigated. Therefore, recall from iconic memory was measured for sets of visual images that were briefly presented in the periphery of the visual field. Using a partial-report technique, a central arrow presented at varying delays after the images was pointing to the location of the to-be-recalled target. In the direct replication (experiment 1, n = 41), participants were asked to verbally report the cued image (note that the entire planned sample size could not be reached owing to the COVID-19 pandemic), and in an extension experiment (experiment 2, n = 55), iconic memory was tested using a visual recognition test. Both experiments demonstrated prioritized selection of emotional targets from iconic memory, with higher verbal recall and visual recognition accuracy for negative and positive targets compared to neutral targets. In addition, we found that the presence of emotional distractors in the set interfered with the selection of neutral targets, thus confirming a trend that was observed in the original study. Exponential decay curves further revealed that both target and distractor valence primarily affected initial availability (in case of verbal recall) and attentional selection, whereas the decay of iconic memory with increasing cue delay was less sensitive to the emotional meaning.

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