Escape from temporal-integration masking: the roles of visible persistence and input filtering

A brief target embedded in—and coterminating with—a noise mask is identified easily when the duration of the mask is long but not when it is short (Di Lollo, 1980; inverse-duration effect). Identification has been said to be mediated by the visible persistence of the target, which outlasted that of the mask. We tested an alternative account based on input filtering triggered by the onset and offset of the target, relative to those of the mask, without recourse to visible persistence. The results of Experiment 1 could not be explained wholly in terms of visible persistence but were entirely consistent with input filtering. Identification suffered in Experiment 2 when transient responses were attenuated by "ramping." In Experiment 3, accuracy improved gradually as a function of leading-mask duration. All results were consistent with a modified version of von Holst's (1954) hypothesis that a new stimulus (e.g., the present mask) establishes an input filter within the system. Any sudden onsets or offsets then lead to the perception of a new object only when they do not match the input filter, thus becoming segregated from the temporally leading stimulus.