Investigations on perceptual masking effect of internal objects' representations on visual awareness

本研究表明，视运动（AM）刺激的内部表征可以在感知上掩盖其他物体的视觉意识。结果发现，AM 轨迹内的目标检测性能下降（AM 干扰）。此外，当调幅刺激和目标之间的方向差异变大时，调幅干扰就会减弱。这些发现表明，AM 刺激及其内部表征会影响涉及检测 AM 轨迹模式的较低视觉过程，并且 AM 刺激的内部对象表征选择性地包含并维持刺激属性。此外，当前的研究表明，与 AM 刺激一起出现的瞬态声音可以增强 AM 干扰的幅度。当调幅期间声音频率不一致时，这种听觉效应就会减弱。我们还证实，无论目标和 AM 刺激之间的方向信息不一致，声音都会完全提高 AM 干扰的幅度。这些结果表明，声音有助于 AM 刺激的内部对象表示的稳健建立和时空维持。

The present study demonstrated that the internal representation of apparent motion(AM) stimuli could perceptually mask the visual awareness of other objects. It was found that target detection performance was degraded within an AM trajectory(AM interference). Further, this AM interference weakened when the differences in orientation between the AM stimuli and target became greater. These findings suggest that AM stimuli and their internal representations affect lower visual processes involved in detecting a pattern in the AM trajectory, and that the internal object representation of an AM stimulus selectively contains and maintains the stimulus attribute. Further, the current study showed that transient sounds presented together with AM stimuli could enhance the magnitude of AM interference. This auditory effect attenuated when frequencies of the sounds were inconsistent during AM. We also confirmed that the sounds wholly elevated the magnitude of AM interference irrespective of the inconsistency in orientation information between the target and AM stimuli. These results suggest that sounds can contribute to the robust establishment and spatiotemporal maintenance of the internal object representation of an AM stimulus.