Pattern masking and visual perception: assessing the effects of a structure and noise mask using the general recognition theory
Date
1999
Authors
Muis, Krista R.
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Abstract
A new paradigm was used to test the effects of a structure and noise mask on the perception of visual stimuli. These effects were examined using the General Recognition Theory (GRT) framework (Ashby & Townsend, 1986) to investigate how stimulus dimensions affect each other during perceptual processing. Participants identified one level on each of two dimensions of a stimulus. The stimuli were arcs of varying curvature and radial lines of varying orientation. The effects of the masks were examined as a function of stimulus onset asynchrony, and perception of the stimuli was assessed for perceptual separability, perceptual independence, and decisional separability, as defined within the GRT. The results indicate that the structure mask had little effect on perception of the stimuli in terms of dimensional interactions. The noise mask, however, had a considerable effect on perceptual independence. The results are discussed in terms of a stochastic model of GRT (Ashby, 1989).