Object Substitution Masking Interferes With Semantic Processing

Reiss, Jason E.; Hoffman, James E. · 2006 · Psychological Science

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01820.x

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Summary

This study investigates the depth of visual processing associated with targets that are rendered unreportable through object substitution masking (OSM). OSM occurs when a target and surrounding dots share a common onset, but the dots persist after the target disappears, causing observers to fail to identify the target and often perceive the area as blank. While previous research established that OSM impairs conscious awareness, it remained unclear whether the masked target undergoes high-level semantic processing before being suppressed, similar to phenomena like the attentional blink (AB). In the AB, targets are often unaware but still undergo semantic analysis. The authors aimed to determine if OSM interferes with semantic processing or if it occurs at a later stage, preserving semantic access despite blocking awareness. To address this, Reiss and Hoffman employed event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically examining the N400 component, which reflects semantic mismatch between a target and its context. Twelve participants viewed a context word followed by a target word surrounded by masking dots. The target was either semantically related or unrelated to the context. The critical manipulation involved the offset of the masking dots: in the simultaneous-offset condition, dots disappeared with the target; in the delayed-offset condition (OSM), dots persisted for 400 ms after the target vanished. Behavioral accuracy and EEG data were recorded to assess identification performance and neural responses to semantic relatedness. The results demonstrated that delayed dot offset significantly reduced target identification accuracy, confirming the masking effect. Crucially, the N400 amplitude, which typically shows a robust difference between related and unrelated words, was significantly diminished in the OSM condition. In the simultaneous-offset condition, a strong N400 relatedness effect was observed, indicating intact semantic processing. However, in the delayed-offset condition, the N400 difference between related and unrelated words disappeared. The authors noted that behavioral accuracy in the OSM condition was partly driven by guessing strategies rather than genuine word recognition, further supporting the lack of semantic processing. These findings indicate that OSM interferes with target processing prior to semantic analysis, distinguishing it from the attentional blink, where semantic processing remains intact despite impaired awareness. This supports the reentrant-processing model of OSM, which posits that interference arises from a mismatch in early visual representations during feedback cycles, rather than a failure to consolidate information into working memory. The study provides the first evidence that substitution masking disrupts presemantic visual representations, suggesting that OSM and AB are mediated by distinct mechanisms.

Key finding

Object substitution masking interferes with semantic processing, as evidenced by the suppression of the N400 event-related potential component when targets are masked.

Methodology

lab_experiment

Sample size: 12

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• inattentional change blindness