The role of surface representation in perceptual blindness.

• Main Authors: Li-Chuan Hsu, 許儷絹
• Other Authors: Su-Ling Yeh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/57860921794135771326

博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 心理學研究所 === 92 === PFI and MIB are two phenomena of perceptual blindness in which perceptually salient target repeatedly disappear and reappear in the background after prolonged viewing. They were considered different mechanisms in which PFI was caused by boundary adaptation and fast interpolation while MIB was due to high-level (e.g., attention) processes. We argue, instead, that the two phenomena share common mechanisms and surface representations of the target and the background play a greater role than has been hitherto considered. In this study we examined, by using PFI and MIB, the role of surface representation in perceptual blindness, and a model of perceptual blindness was proposed. In this model, boundary adaptation operates when the border ownership belongs to the target, while surface competition occurs when the target and the background are separated into different surfaces and the target loses the border ownership. Attention facilitates the process of boundary adaptation by operating on the boundary that belongs to the target. In Experiments 1 and 2 respectively, depth ordering between the target and the background was manipulated in PFI, and pre-adaptation to the target boundary was manipulated in MIB. Results from these two experiments demonstrated that PFI and MIB were both influenced by surface competition and boundary adaptation. In Experiment 3, the total length of the target boundary and the disparity depth cue were manipulated. We found that when the target and the background were on the same surface or the target was seen above the background the fading of the target was influenced by the length of the target boundary; while when the target was perceived to be behind the background, the fading of the target was free from the influence of the boundary. In Experiment 4, the properties of the texture elements of the background (depth ordering, motion coherence, and grouping) were manipulated. The fading of the target was found easiest when the target were sunk into the background, when the background texture elements were in coherent motion, and when there was good grouping between texture elements. In Experiment 5, participants’ attention was manipulated and the effect of attention was found to facilitate the adaptation of the target boundary. Results from all the experiments support the model that perceptual blindness occurs after surface representation is established.