Abstract
When two video-frames are alternated at the appropriate rate, one with a central shape and the other with two flanking shapes, the central shape becomes invisible. An intriguing phenomenal aspect of this illusion is the mislocalization of visual features (shape, color, texture) in the central shape to the flanking shapes. Psychophysical experiments examined the spatial and temporal factors underlying these mislocalizations. Systematic explorations of contour proximity, frame duration, cycle time, and inter-frame interval revealed that (1) target visibility depends on relative frame duration, but that (2) feature mislocalization depends critically on a brief blank interval between two video-frames. This indicates that masking (target visibility) and binding (feature mislocalization) are separable aspects of the standing wave illusion. These findings are interpreted within the framework of masking by object substitution.