On Simultaneous Masking in the Visual Field

Author: Vicario G.B.

Source: Axiomathes, Volume 13, Numbers 3-4, 2003 , pp. 399-432(34)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The concept of simultaneous masking in visual field is discussed, in the light of classical examples, of the various kinds of the phenomenon, of amodal completion, of the figure/ground phenomenon, of ambiguous and reversible figures, of mimicry and camouflage and eventually of the complexity of the stimulus. There is some reference to masking in auditory field. The ``reality'' of the masked configuration is discussed, drawing the conclusion that it is perceptually unreal. The fact that the masking phenomenon cannot take place without comparison between two perceptual acts – what we see at one moment and what we see a moment after LATER – and the fact that the masked configuration pops out with some surprise, lead to the conclusion that simultaneous masking in visual field is not a bare perceptual phenomenon, but a psychological process not unlike insight

Keywords: Perception; Vision; Audition; Masking; Amodal completion; Figure/ground; Ambiguous figures; Reversible figures; Mimicry; Camouflage; Insight