The effects of the global structure of the mask in visual backward masking.

The visibility of a target can be strongly affected by a trailing mask. Research on visual backward masking has typically focused on the temporal characteristics of masking, whereas non-basic spatial aspects have received much less attention. However, recently, it has been demonstrated that the spatial layout is an important determinant of the strength of a mask. Here, we show that not only local but also global aspects of the mask's spatial layout affect target processing. Particularly, it is the regularity of the mask that plays an important role. Our findings are of importance for theoretical research, as well as for applications of visual masking.