Briscoe G, Dember W N, Warm J S
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1983 Dec;9(6):898-911. doi: 10.1037//0096-1523.9.6.898.
Theories of visual backward masking have generally ignored demonstrations of the perceptual recovery of a masked target when the masking stimulus (M1) is followed by a second masking stimulus (M2). This failure to address recovery may reflect a belief that recovery effects are relatively small and inconsistent. The present article reports a series of experiments, using single-letter targets, a patterned M1 and a light-flash M2, which indicate that recovery can be a robust and substantial phenomenon. It is observable under a variety of conditions, and the magnitude of recovery matches the masking effect itself. A two-choice discrimination task was employed to test an explanation for recovery that attributes the effect to inhibition from the transient response to the light flash on the sustained response to the patterned mask. That explanation calls for the shape of the function relating the discriminability of the patterned mask to the onset asynchrony of M1 and M2 to be U-shaped in form. The data, however, reveal a monotonic masking function, suggesting that only sustained, intrachannel interactions are involved in the recovery of the target percept. Two conflicting explanations for recovery are discussed, one based upon inhibition of M1 responses, the other upon enhancement of target features. Thus, while recovery is demonstrated to be very real, its explanation remains elusive.
当掩蔽刺激（M1）之后接着第二个掩蔽刺激（M2）时，被掩蔽目标的知觉恢复。未能解决恢复问题可能反映出一种观点，即恢复效应相对较小且不一致。本文报告了一系列实验，使用单个字母目标、有图案的M1和闪光的M2，这些实验表明恢复可能是一种强大且显著的现象。在各种条件下都可观察到，并且恢复的程度与掩蔽效应本身相当。采用二选一辨别任务来检验一种对恢复的解释，该解释将这种效应归因于从对闪光的瞬态反应到对有图案掩蔽的持续反应的抑制。那种解释要求将有图案掩蔽的可辨别性与M1和M2的起始异步性相关的函数形状呈U形。然而，数据显示出单调的掩蔽函数，这表明在目标知觉的恢复中仅涉及持续的、通道内的相互作用。讨论了两种相互冲突的恢复解释，一种基于对M1反应的抑制，另一种基于目标特征的增强。因此，虽然恢复被证明是非常真实的，但其解释仍然难以捉摸。
