Abstract
Motion-induced blindness (MIB) and Perceptual Filling-in (PFI) are two instances of temporary blindness in which, after prolonged viewing, perceptually salient targets repeatedly disappear and reappear, amidst a field of distracters. Hsu and Yeh (VSS2004) provided an integrated model in which the establishment of surfaces is assumed to cause both these phenomena. In this model, a target is assumed to fade when its surface is perceived to lose its boundary due to either adaptation, or due to the presence of other surfaces that are defined by distractors. A surface representation can be established with the help of various segregation cues, and here we test whether, as the model predicts, any kind of cue can give rise to the same effect. Four different cues were used that were based on (1) motion, (2) binocular disparity, (3) perceptual grouping, or (4) occlusion. The results support our hypotheses that all kinds of surfaces produced the temporary blindness phenomenon.