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Illusory Form Perception and Perceptual Grouping Operations under Conditions of Restricted Visual Awareness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2018

Mikel Jimenez  and
Pedro R. Montoro
Mikel Jimenez*
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain)
Pedro R. Montoro
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mikel Jimenez. Departamento de Psicología Básica I de la Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. Calle Juan del Rosal 10, 28040 Madrid (Spain). Phone: +34–913986265. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

In the present study, we conducted two experiments (Experiment 1: 35 participants, M = 29; SD = 8.4; Experiment 2: 36 participants, M = 25; SD = 6.1) with the intention to explore whether underlying perceptual grouping operations and illusory form perception generate dissociable priming effects when Kanizsa-like figures are presented as primes and the rotated inducers as controls under conditions of restricted awareness. Using five different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA conditions, Experiment 1: 27, 40 and 53 ms; Experiment 2: 27, 80 and 227 ms), we displayed masked illusory and groping primes that could be congruent or incongruent in their orientation with subsequent probe stimuli (vertical vs. horizontal). We found significant priming effects in both Experiment 1 and 2 (p < .001, η2p = .31 and p = .016, η2p = .16, respectively), but, crucially, no significant priming differences between illusory and grouping primes across SOA conditions. Overall, our results are important in showing that a dissociation of the percept generated by the grouping of the inducers from that generated by the illusory form is crucial in the study of illusory form perception under conditions of restricted awareness. In addition, they provide further evidence of perceptual organization operations occurring under very restrictive awareness conditions.

Keywords

awarenessgroupingillusory formperceptual organizationpriming
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 21 , 2018 , E42
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2018 

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