Masking by object substitution: dissociation of masking and cuing effects

In a newly discovered form of visual masking, a target stimulus is masked by 4 flanking dots if their offset is delayed relative to the target (V. Di Lollo, J. T. Enns, & R. A. Rensink, 2000). In Di Lollo et al. (2000), the dot pattern also cued the relevant target and therefore required deliberate attention. In the present Experiments 2-6, a central arrow cued 1 of 2 letters for an E/F discrimination, with dots flanking both letters. Masking was reduced compared with the mask-cue procedure but was still robust. Delayed-offset dots flanking the nontarget also impaired performance, indicating competition for attention. Masking was unaffected by brightness of the dots relative to the target. Masking was attenuated not only by precuing attention to the target location but also by preview of an uninformative dot mask. Theories of masking by object substitution must therefore accommodate the prior context into which the target stimulus is introduced.