Visual perceptual processing rates and backward and forward masking.

Abstract
Presented 3 different stimuli successively to the same foveal location. In Exp. I with 11 undergraduates and an 11-yr-old girl, the effect of varying dark intervals between the 3 constant-duration stimuli was compared to varying the durations of immediately successive stimuli. Forward and backward masking interactions revealed integration of the stimuli rather than an erasure process. Evidence for a processing rate in the neighborhood of 200 msec. was obtained. In Exp. II with 4 undergraduates, some of the stimuli were filtered in order to make comparisons between the 2 conditions with stimulus energy held constant. Time-intensity reciprocity was found out to 100-msec stimulus duration, with equal energy giving highly similar performance levels for the compared conditions. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)