Self-initiated Action Rescues Visual Targets from Backwards Masking

Authors

Amber R. Hopkins, Chapman University
Tian Lan, Chapman University
Aaron Schurger, Chapman UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-29-2025

Abstract

When a visual target is followed by a visual mask stimulus, the target sometimes goes unseen. This is visual masking. In an experiment treating a masked visual stimulus as the sensory outcome of self-initiated action, we demonstrate that self-initiated action can rescue visual targets from backwards masks. Specifically, participants were correct about a visual target more often when the target-mask sequence appeared after their self-initiated action than when its onset was triggered externally. While self-initiated action sometimes induces sensory attenuation, whereby the perception of sensory events that follow actions is dampened, we observed that self-initiated action promotes the perception of the visual target. This effect could not be explained by the temporal (also called intentional) binding effect, another anticipatory effect that arises from self-initiated action. In addition to this effect, we also demonstrate the successful execution of a visual masking paradigm delivered online using a crowd-sourcing platform.

Comments

This article was originally published in iScience, volume 28, issue 9, in 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.113244

Recommended Citation

Hopkins, A. R., Lan, T., *& Schurger, A. (2025). Self-initiated action rescues visual targets from backwards masking. iScience, 28(9), 113244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.113244

Copyright

The authors

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.