Object-substitution masking degrades the quality of conscious object representations

Harrison, Geoffrey; Rajsic, Jason; Wilson, Diane

doi:10.3758/s13423-015-0875-7

Cited by 19 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…These results suggest that threshold and precision responses are distinct measurements, perhaps reflecting separate underlying mechanisms (i.e., Salahub & Emrich, 2016). This is also a replication of the behavioral results found by Harrison et al (2016), suggesting that processes occurring during OSM (such as object updating or substitution) degrade the quality of objects that reach awareness, and that this is a separate process from the effects of selective attention on object fidelity, as manipulated through set size.…”

Section: Behavioral Resultssupporting

confidence: 70%

“…Following this, the memory sample appeared for a total of 17 ms (similar to previous OSM designs; i.e., Harris et al, 2013;Harrison et al, 2016). This display consisted of 2 or 4 Landolt Cs (1 × 1 visual degree) in random orientations.…”

Section: Task Design and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because the SPCN is affected by VWM load, it should also indicate whether more distractor items are being stored in memory as set size increases. Behaviorally, there is evidence that when set size increases, there is an increase in the likelihood of misreporting a distractor item instead of the target in OSM (Harrison, Rajsic, & Wilson, 2016). This was determined using a mixture model analysis (see Bays, Catalao, & Husain, 2009, or the Method section for more information), which determines the proportion of nontarget errors that are made in any given condition.…”

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confidence: 99%

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ERP evidence for temporal independence of set size and object updating in object substitution masking

Salahub

Emrich

2017

Atten Percept Psychophys

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To keep track of dynamically changing objects in one's environment, it is necessary to individuate them from other objects, both temporally and spatially. Spatially, objects can be selected from nearby distractors using selective attention. Temporally, object updating processes incorporate new information into existing representations over time. Both of these processes have been implicated in a type of visual masking called object-substitution masking (OSM). Previous studies have found that the number of distractors (impacting selective attention) interacts with the strength of OSM. However, it has been suggested that this interaction is an artifact of ceiling performance at low set sizes, rather than necessitating a failure of attention during masking. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we examined whether set size and masking interact as measured by markers of selective attention (N2pc) and visual working memory consolidation/maintenance (SPCN). Set size was found to affect the N2pc (200-350 ms) and late SPCN (500-650 ms), reflecting increased demands on selective attention and unnecessary storage respectively. An early window of the SPCN (350-500 ms) was affected by masking, suggesting that OSM influences object consolidation processes in this window, independent of the number of distractors. Overall, it was found that selective attention and visual awareness are dissociable neural processes in OSM, and that they are independently affected by set size and masking manipulations. Moreover, we found that the early SPCN may reflect disruptions to object consolidation, potentially revealing a neural mechanism supporting an object individuation-through-updating account of OSM.

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Section: Behavioral Resultssupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Task Design and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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ERP evidence for temporal independence of set size and object updating in object substitution masking

Salahub

Emrich

2017

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…But we know that masks can disrupt the consolidation process for memory items. One recent study found that in a recall task even the object-substitution masking can cause degradation in the precision of VWM representation (Harrison, Rajsic, & Wilson, 2015). We did not use masks because if the early phase of commodity allocation is involuntary, masks themselves can be consolidated into VWM, which was irrelevant information and would increase noise in our data.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A two-phase model of resource allocation in visual working memory.

C¹,

Hu²,

Li³

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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Two broad theories of visual working memory (VWM) storage have emerged from current research, a discrete slot-based theory and a continuous resource theory. However, neither the discrete slot-based theory or continuous resource theory clearly stipulates how the mental commodity for VWM (discrete slot or continuous resource) is allocated. Allocation may be based on the number of items via stimulus-driven factors, or it may be based on task demands via voluntary control. Previous studies have obtained conflicting results regarding the automaticity vs. controllability of such allocation. In the current study, we propose a two-phase allocation model, in which the mental commodity could be allocated only by stimulus-driven factors in the early consolidation phase. However, when there is sufficient time to complete the early phase, allocation can enter the late consolidation phase, where it can be flexibly and voluntarily controlled according to task demands. In an orientation recall task, we instructed participants to store either fewer items at high-precision or more items at low-precision. In three experiments, we systematically manipulated memory set size and exposure duration. We did not find an effect of task demands when the set size was high and exposure duration was short. However, when we either decreased the set size or increased the exposure duration, we found a trade-off between the number and precision of VWM representations. These results can be explained by a two-phase model, which can also account for previous conflicting findings in the literature.

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“…To address the question of perceptual fidelity, Harrison, Rajsic, & Wilson (2015) examined how masking influences the fidelity of perceptual representations. They used objectsubstitution masking (OSM) (Enns & Di Lollo, 1997), in which the visibility of a target item is impaired by a sparse four-dot mask that has a delayed offset from the target (for a review, see Goodhew et al, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tuning perception: Visual working memory biases the quality of visual awareness

Salahub

Emrich

2016

Psychon Bull Rev

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Studies of consciousness reveal that it is possible to manipulate subjective awareness of a visual stimulus. For example, items held in visual working memory (VWM) that match target features increase the speed with which the target reaches visual awareness. To examine the effect of VWM on perception, previous studies have mainly used coarse measures of awareness, such as present/absent or forced-choice judgments. These methods can reveal whether or not an individual has seen an item, but they do not provide information about the quality with which the item was seen. Using continuous report methods it has been shown that the fidelity of a perceived item can be affected by whether or not that item is masked. In the present study, we used an object-substitution masking task to examine whether items held in VWM would influence the quality with which a masked target reached awareness, or whether the threshold for awareness was instead affected by stimuli held in memory. We observed that targets matching the contents of VWM were recalled with greater precision compared to items that did not match the contents of VWM. Importantly, this effect occurred without affecting the likelihood of the target being perceived. These results suggest that VWM plays a greater role in modulating the fidelity of perceived representations than in lowering the overall threshold of awareness.

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Object-substitution masking degrades the quality of conscious object representations

Cited by 19 publications

References 23 publications

ERP evidence for temporal independence of set size and object updating in object substitution masking

ERP evidence for temporal independence of set size and object updating in object substitution masking

A two-phase model of resource allocation in visual working memory.

Tuning perception: Visual working memory biases the quality of visual awareness

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