Perceived Continuity of Occluded Visual Objects

Author(s): Steven Yantis

Source: Psychological Science, Vol. 6, No. 3 (May, 1995), pp. 182-186
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the Association for Psychological Science
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40063012
Accessed: 11-01-2019 21:31 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Sage Publications, Inc., Association for Psychological Science are collaborating with
JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Psychological Science

This content downloaded from 129.215.17.190 on Fri, 11 Jan 2019 21:31:10 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Research Report
PERCEIVED CONTINUITY OF OCCLUDED VISUAL OBJECTS

Steven Yantis
Johns Hopkins University

Abstract - The human visual system herencedoes

is achieved has been a central count for even apparently simple percep-
not rigidly preserve the properties goalof psychology since the Gestalt tual
in the psy-phenomena.
retinal image as neural signals are chologists
trans- began their studies of percep- Amodal completion occurs when a
mitted to higher areas of the brain. tual organization
In- (e.g., Koffka, 1935),
partly occluded object is perceived as
stead, it generates a representation and this
that interest continues today (e.g.,
continuing behind the occluder across
captures stable surface properties Kellman
de- & Shipley, 1992; Nakayamaspace, & as in Figure la. I now report data
spite a retinal image that is often Shimojo,
frag-1992; Palmer & Rock, 1994). that reveal a complementary phenome-
mented in space and time because Modern of oc- psychophysical approaches non termed amodal integration: In
clusion caused by object and observer to vision emphasize the elementary neu- amodal integration, a momentarily oc-
motion. The recovery of this coherent ral processes that subserve visual tasks cluded object is perceived as continuing
representation depends at leastsuch in as detection and discrimination. In
part behind the occluder through time. This
on input from an abstract representation the models of early vision that are pro- phenomenon arises during both object
of three-dimensional (3-D) surface posed,lay-
known properties of the visual motion (Fig. lb) and observer motion
out. In the two experiments reported, a
system (e.g., receptive field structure(Fig.
or lc). It is related to previous dem-
stereoscopic apparent motion display motion-sensing circuits) are used to onstrations
ac- of apparent and real motion
was used to investigate the perceived count for the psychophysical phenomena under occlusion (e.g., Michotte et al.,
continuity of a briefly interrupted visual of interest. 1964/1991; Ramachandran & Anstis,
object. When a surface appeared in front Recent experimental work has re-1983; Ramachandran, Inada, & Kiama,
of the object's location during the inter- vealed, however, that perceptual experi- 1986; Sigman & Rock, 1974; Tipper,
ruption, the object was more likely to be ence depends not only on the elementary Brehaut, & Driver, 1990) in reflecting the
perceived as persisting through the inter- properties of scenic components (e.g., visual system's tendency to maximize
ruption (behind an occluder) than when contrast and orientation), but also on the the coherence and continuity of percep-
the surface appeared behind the object's perceived three-dimensional (3-D) layout tual experience.
location under otherwise identical stim- of surfaces in the scene (e.g., He & Na-Amodal integration was investigated
ulus conditions. The results reveal the in- kayama, 1992, 1994; Kellman & Shipley, by having observers view a bistable ap-
fluence of 3-D surface-based representa-1991, 1992; Nakayama & Shimojo, 1992; parent motion (Ternus) display (Pantle &
tions even in very simple visual tasks. Shimojo & Nakayama, 1990). ConsiderPicciano, 1976; Ternus, 1926/1939; see
the following example from an experi- Fig. 2a). The display consists of a se-
ment (He & Nakayama, 1992) involving quence of frames separated by a blank
As one views the environment, the vi-
displays containing elements like those interstimulus interval (ISI). Three loca-
sual image of objects and surfaces that is
shown in Figure la. If the black region tions (labeled a, b, and c in Fig. 2a) are
formed at the retina is fragmented in
defined within the display. In Frame 1,
appears to be floating in front of the ad-
both space and time. A stationary object
jacent white rectangle via stereoscopic objects appear in Locations a and b; in
may be partly occluded by an interven-
depth cues, it looks like an L; however, Frame 2, they appear in Locations b and
ing surface (Fig. la), a moving object
if the black region appears to be floating
c. (Subscripts refer to the frame in which
may be occluded for a brief duration
behind the white rectangle, it is per- an element appeared; e.g., an element
when it passes behind an intervening sur-
ceived as part of a complete square that appearing in Location b in Frame 2 is
face (Fig. lb), or a stationary object maycontinues behind an occluder. He and
Element b2. The purpose of the disks
be occluded by an intervening surface
Nakayama (1992) found that this phe- above and below the box enclosing the
because of the observer's motion (Fig.
nomenon, known as amodal completion objects is described later.) Several cy-
lc). Despite retinal image fragmentation,
(Michotte, Thines, & Crabbe, 1964/ cles of the display are shown in each trial
however, perceptual experience is co-
1991), occurs preattentively and has an(one cycle = Frame 1-ISI-Frame
herent and unfragmented. The visual
early perceptual locus (related evidence2- ISI). When observers view this dis-
system generates a representation of the
has been reported by Enns & Rensink, in play, one of two percepts is reported.
environment that captures stable object
press; Sekuler, 1994; Sekuler & Palmer,When the ISI is short in duration (e.g.,
and surface properties. Understanding
1992; and Shimojo & Nakayama, 1990). less than 20 ms), element motion is al-
the processes through which visual co-
Amodal completion is a manifestation of most always reported: The central ele-
the interaction between image fragmentsment is perceived as stationary, and the
Address correspondence to Steven Yan- and 3-D surface layout representations. other element appears to hop back and
tis, Department of Psychology, Johns Hop- Evidence of this sort reveals that models forth over it (Fig. 3a). When the ISI is
kins University, Baltimore, MD 21218; incorporating only early, bottom-up neu-longer (e.g., greater than 150 ms), group
e-mail: yantis@jhu.edu. ral mechanisms are inadequate to ac- motion is perceived: The two elements

182 Copyright © 1995 American Psychological Society VOL. 6, NO. 3, MAY 1995

This content downloaded from 129.215.17.190 on Fri, 11 Jan 2019 21:31:10 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Steven Yantis

ement b2 available for correspondence

matching with Element a1? and because
short apparent motion trajectories are
preferred by the visual system (e.g., Burt
& Sperling, 1981; Dawson, 1991; Ull-
man, 1979), group motion is perceived
(Fig. 3b).
The Ternus task thus provides an in-
dex of the perceived spatiotemporal con- Fig. 3. Correspondence matching in the
tinuity of Element b. The principle of Ternus display. The perception of appar-
amodal integration states that a briefly ent motion requires that an element ap-
pearing at one point in space and time be
occluded object is experienced as contin-
matched with another element appearing
uously present across time. If so, then
Fig. 1. Surfaces yielding a retinal image at another point in space and time. In
the motion correspondences in the Ter- element motion (a), the middle element
that is fragmented in space or time. The
nus display should be influenced by the is perceived as stationary (correspon-
retinal image of an object may be frag-
presence of an occluding surface during dence: bj -> b2), and the other element
mented in space because an intervening
surface partly occludes it (a). The retinalthe ISI. The key prediction is this: Ob- appears to hop back and forth over it (aj
image of an object may be fragmented in servers should be more likely to experi- -> c2). In group motion (b), the two ele-
time either because it moves behind a ence Element b as continuously present ments are perceived as moving back and
stationary occluding surface (b) or when be- it is occluded during the ISI than forth together (ax - > b2 and b1 -> c2). ISI
= interstimulus interval.
cause as the observer moves throughwhen the there is no occluder. This in turn
environment, a stationary object is tem- should increase the likelihood of ele-
porarily occluded by a stationary surface reoscopically in front of or behind the
ment-motion percepts (Fig. 3a), even at
(c). Dashed lines represent occluded long ob- ISIs. apparent motion elements; this was ac-
ject trajectories or lines of sight. complished by presenting the inducing
To test this prediction, on some trials
elements (i.e., the small disks and the
I placed a virtual surface over the center
appear to move together (Fig. 3b). At in- outline box) with crossed or uncrossed
location during the blank ISI (Fig. 2b).
termediate ISIs, perceived motion is binocular disparity, respectively. Two
The virtual surface was defined by illu-
bistable (i.e., the perceptual experience versions of the experiment were run: In
sory contours (Kanizsa, 1979; Petry &
spontaneously alternates between ele- Experiment 1, the virtual surface ap-
Meyer, 1987) induced by disks located
ment and group motion); nevertheless, above and below the outline box sur- peared on half the trials, and no virtual
observers can consistently judge which surface appeared on the remaining trials;
rounding the apparent motion elements.
percept makes the stronger impression. (A virtual surface was used instead in Experiment 2, a virtual surface ap-
of a
The probability of reporting group mo- peared in front of the apparent motion
real one to minimize the possible influ-
tion typically increases monotonically ence of contour onset and offset that elements on half the trials, and it ap-
with ISI (e.g., Breitmeyer & Ritter, peared behind the apparent motion ele-
would have accompanied a real surface.)
1986a, 1986b; Pantle & Picciano, 1976). l ments on the remaining trials.
The two apparent motion elements al-
One possible mechanism for the bista- If the perceptual experience produced
ways appeared in the same depth plane,
bility of this display is visible persis- while the virtual surface appeared ste- by the Ternus display is explained only
tence, a form of very brief visual mem- by the visible persistence of Element b1?
ory (e.g., DiLollo, 1980). According to the presence or location of the virtual
this account (Breitmeyer & Ritter, surface should have no effect. However,
1986a, 1986b), persistence of Element bx if an occluding surface supports amodal
causes it to appear perceptually contin- integration of Elements bl and b2, then
uous with Element b2, particularly at observers should be more likely to report
short ISIs; this renders b2 unavailable for element motion when Location b is oc-

correspondence matching with Element cluded than when it is not.

a1? leading to the perception of element

motion (Fig. 3a). At longer ISIs, persis-
METHOD
tence of Element bj no longer spans the
temporal gap between frames, so Ele-
In each experiment, 16 experimen-
ment b2 is perceived as phenomenally tally naive Johns Hopkins University un-
distinct from bv This in turn renders El-
dergraduate students participated in a
single 1-hr session; they were paid $6
each for their participation. Before the
1 . Several other factors also influence the Fig. 2. The bistable apparent motion
perception of group and element motion (e.g., (Ternus) display without (a) and withexperiment
(b) began, each subject signed a
the duration, size, and contrast of the ele- consent form in which his or her rights as
a virtual occluding surface over the mid-
ments). For present purposes, the effects of dle location. ISI = interstimulus inter- a research subject were delineated.
these factors are not considered. val. See the text for details. The display (see Fig. 2) consisted of a

VOL. 6, NO. 3, MAY 1995 183

This content downloaded from 129.215.17.190 on Fri, 11 Jan 2019 21:31:10 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Perceived Visual Continuity

pair of stimulus frames (referred to as on every trial. On half the trials, the virtual surface appeared dur-
was present
Frames 1 and 2, respectively), each trials,pre-
the inducing elements appeared ing the ISI in every trial in Experiment 2.
sented for 200 ms. The frames were with crossed
sep- binocular disparity On half the trials, the virtual surface was
arated by a blank ISI of variable dura-
throughout the trial (and thus appeared in front of the apparent motion tokens
tion. On each trial, four cycles of to frames
float in front of the apparent motion and appeared to occlude the element in
were presented. Three equally spaced tokens),lo-and on the remaining trials, Location
the b; on the remaining trials, the
cations 2.1° apart center to center wereelements appeared with un-virtual surface appeared behind the to-
inducing
defined within an outline box subtending crossed disparity (and thus appearedkens to and occluded neither element. The
5.5° horizontally and 1.25° vertically. float behind
In the apparent motion to- front and rear displays differed only in
Frame 1, apparent motion tokens kens). Stereopsis
(50' in was produced by a the polarity of binocular disparity.
diameter) appeared in LocationspcStereoscope
a and b; system (Vision Research Figure 5 shows that element motion
in Frame 2, they appeared in Locations Graphics, Inc.)
b in which alternating percepts were once again more probable
and c. The virtual surface that video frames were presented to the left when Element b was occluded (surface
appeared
on some trials was induced by removing and right eyes, respectively, via a pair of in front) than when it was not (surface
segments shutters synchronized with behind). I conclude that the presence of
portions of an outline box and liquid-crystal
of four disks placed above and below the 60-Hzthevideo refresh cycle. a surface that bears an appropriate depth
outline box (Fig. 2b, middle panel). relation to a visual object can support
These inducing elements had a binocular amodal integration of that object when it
RESULTS
disparity of 25'; the diameter of the in- is briefly interrupted.
ducing disks was 38'. On each trial, the
In Experiment 1, observers were
duration of the ISI was randomly se-
more likely to report element motion at DISCUSSION
lected from the range 0 to 200 ms in 33.3-
long ISIs when the virtual occluder was
ms steps. The display was viewed from a
present than when it was absent (Fig. 4). The experiments reported here reveal
distance of 43 cm, which was maintained
The virtual occluder supported amodal that the perceived continuity of a briefly
by a chin rest. Each subject completed
integration of the element in Location b interrupted perceptual object depends
420 trials divided into six blocks of 70
when the occluding surface "explained" not only on early neural mechanisms in
trials each. Within each block, subjects
the interruption, and this led to increased the visual system, such as visible persis-
made five judgments for each combina-
perception of element motion. tence, but also on a representation of 3-D
tion of seven ISIs and two virtual surface
To ensure that this effect was not surface layout. When observers view the
conditions.
caused spuriously by onsets and offsets occluded bistable Ternus display, the
Each subject was shown two demon-
in the inducing elements, which occurred motion correspondence assignments that
stration displays at the start of the exper- in occluder trials but not in no-occluder
occur reflect the physical constraint that
iment. In the first demonstration display,
the ISI was set to 0 ms, and in the sec-
ond, it was set to 200 ms; no virtual sur-
face appeared in these displays. The sub-
ject was asked to describe in his or her
own words what the display looked like,
and every subject spontaneously re-
ported percepts that are depicted in Fig-
ures 3a and 3b for the short and long
ISIs, respectively. The percept corre-
sponding to Figure 3a was labeled "ele-
ment motion," and that corresponding to
Figure 3b was labeled "group motion."
The subject was instructed to press the
right button to report element motion
and the left button to report group mo-
tion. There was no speed stress.
In Experiment 1, the inducing ele-
ments appeared with crossed binocular
disparity on all trials. On half the trials,
the inducing elements did not change
during the ISI (Fig. 2a); on the remaining
trials, a virtual rectangle was generated
during the ISI by removing portions of Fig. 4. Results from Experiment 1. The graph shows the mean probability that 16
the inducing disks and the outline box observers reported group motion as a function of interstimulus interval when the
(Fig. 2b). In Experiment 2, a virtual sur- occluding surface was present ("Occluder") or absent ("No Occluder"). Error bars
face defined by the inducing elements extend to ± 1 standard error.

184 VOL. 6, NO. 3, MAY 1995

This content downloaded from 129.215.17.190 on Fri, 11 Jan 2019 21:31:10 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Steven Yantis

Shimojo, 1992; Rock, 1983). Although

the retinal image may be spatially and
temporally fragmented by observer and
object motion, representations of 3-D
surface layout provide a basis for per-
ceiving a stable and coherent visual
world. The modulation of early percep-
tual processes by abstract surface layout
representations presents a continuing
challenge for theories of visual percep-
tion.

Acknowledgments - This work was sup-

ported by Grant R01-MH43924 from the
National Institute of Mental Health and
Grant 92-J-0186 from the U.S. Air Force
Office of Scientific Research. I thank Irvin
Rock for his insights about this problem,
and I am grateful to Jennifer Chen, Dawn
Gondoli, Reid Orth, Danielle Picher, and
Stacy Yu, who provided excellent techni-
cal assistance.

Fig. 5. Results from Experiment 2. The graph shows the mean probability that 16
observers reported group motion as a function of interstimulus interval when a virtual REFERENCES
surface was projected in front of or behind the apparent motion stimuli. Error bars
extend to ± 1 standard error. Assad, J.A., & Maunsell, J.H.R. (1994). Neuronal
correlates of inferred motion in macaque pos-
terior parietal cortex [Abstract]. Investigative
Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 35, 1663.
objects do not cease to exist when they predisposed to assign high priority to
Breitmeyer, B.G., & Ritter, A. (1986a). The role of
are occluded by an intervening surface. new objects that may require a novel re- visual pattern persistence in bistable strobo-
sponse. Gibson and I (Yantis & Gibson,
This is a manifestation of amodal integra- scopic motion. Vision Research, 26, 1801-
1806.
tion, a temporal analogue of amodal 1994) have found that when an object Breitmeyer, B.G., & Ritter, A. (1986b). Visual per-
completion. disappears for at least 100 ms, its reap- sistence and the effect of eccentric viewing,
Recent psychophysical and neuro- pearance captures attention (shorter gap element size, and frame duration on bistable
stroboscopic motion percepts. Perception &
physiological experiments provide con- durations yield decreasing probabilities Psychophysics, 39, 275-280.
verging evidence for the findings re- of attentional capture). This finding sug-
Burt, P., & Sperling, G. (1981). Time, distance, and
gests that when an object reappears after feature trade-offs in visual apparent motion.
ported here. For example, Watamaniuk,
Psychological Review, 88, 171-195.
McKee, and Taylor (1994) found that ob- a 100-ms gap, it is perceived as a new Dawson, M.R.W. (1991). The how and why of what
servers retained good sensitivity in a mo- perceptual object. Moreover, we found went where in apparent motion: Modeling so-
tion discrimination task when the ele- lutions to the motion correspondence problem.
that the time course of this effect is very
Psychological Review, 98, 569-603.
similar to the time course of the transi-
ments to be judged were viewed through DiLollo, V. (1980). Temporal integration in visual
a "picket fence" occluder. Assad andtion from element to group motion in the memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
General, 109, 75-97.
Maunsell (1994) have reported data Ternus display. We argued that the two Enns, J.T., & Rensink, R.A. (in press). An object
(from single-unit recordings in posteriorempirical phenomena are manifestations completion process in early vision. In A.G.
parietal cortex of a rhesus monkey) of a single underlying mechanism: An in- &Gale (Ed.), Visual Search III. London: Taylor
Francis.
showing a directionally sensitive cell re-crease in the duration of the temporalHe, Z.J., & Nakayama, K. (1992). Surfaces versus
sponded when a moving element that gap causes an increase in the probability features in visual search. Nature, 359, 231-
233.
was about to enter its receptive field wasthat an object's spatiotemporal continu-He, Z.J., & Nakayama, K. (1994). Perceived surface
completely occluded (in other words, the ity is disrupted, which in turn has impli- shape not features determines correspondence
cell responded, in the absence of stimu-cations for apparent motion correspon- strength in apparent motion. Vision Research,
34, 2125-2135.
lation, to an ' 'implied" visual object dence and for attentional capture. TheKanizsa, G. (1979). Organization in vision. New
moving behind an occluder through itspresent results augment these findings York: Praeger.
by showing that the perceived continuity Kellman, P.J., & Shipley, T.F. (1991). A theory of
receptive field).
visual interpolation in object perception. Cog-
The spatiotemporal continuity of per-of a perceptual object can be maintained nitive Psychology, 23, 141-221.
ceptual objects has implications for otherby an appropriately placed occluding Kellman, P.J., & Shipley, T.F. (1992). Perceiving
surface. objects across gaps in space and time. Current
aspects of visual functioning. Recent ev- Directions in Psychological Science, 1, 193-
idence from my laboratory suggests that These results extend a large body of 199.

the appearance of new perceptual ob- evidence revealing the complexity of vi- Koffka, K. (1935). Principles of Gestalt psychology .
New York: Harcourt Brace.
jects captures visual attention (Yantis, sual perception (e.g., Kanizsa, 1979; Michotte, A., Thines, G., & Crabbe\ G. (1991).
1993): The visual system is evidently Kellman & Shipley, 1992; Nakayama & Amodal completion of perceptual structures

VOL. 6, NO. 3, MAY 1995 185

This content downloaded from 129.215.17.190 on Fri, 11 Jan 2019 21:31:10 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Perceived Visual Continuity

(E. Miles & T.R. Miles, Trans.). In G.Ramachandran,

Thines, V.S., Inada, V., & Kiama, G. book of Gestalt psychology (pp. 149-160).
A. Costall, & G. Butterworth (Eds.), Mi- (1986). Perception of illusory occlusion in ap- New York: Harcourt Brace & Co. (Original
chotte's experimental phenomenology of per- parent motion. Vision Research, 26, 1741- work published 1926)
ception (pp. 140-167). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. 1749. Tipper, S.P., Brehaut, J.C., & Driver, J. (1990). Se-
(Original work published 1964) Rock, I. (1983). The logic of perception. Cambridge, lection of moving and static objects for the
Nakayama, K., & Shimojo, S. (1992). Experiencing MA: MIT Press. control of spatially directed action. Journal of
and perceiving visual surfaces. Science, 257, Sekuler, A.B. (1994). Local and global minima in Experimental Psychology: Human Perception
1357-1363. visual completion: Effects of symmetry andand Performance, 16, 492-504.
Palmer, S., & Rock, I. (1994). Rethinking perceptual orientation. Perception, 23, 529-545. Ullman, S. (1979). The interpretation of visual mo-
organization: The role of uniform connected-Sekuler, A.B., & Palmer, S.E. (1992). Perception oftion. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
ness. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1 , 29- partly occluded objects: A microgenetic anal- Watamaniuk, S.N.J., McKee, S.P., & Taylor, D.G.
55. ysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: (1994). Detecting a trajectory moving behind
Pantle, A., & Picciano, L. (1976). A multistable General, 121, 95-111. occluders [Abstract]. Investigative Ophthal-
mology and Visual Science, 35, 2162.
movement display: Evidence for two separate Shimojo, S., & Nakayama, K. (1990). Amodal rep-
resentation of occluded surfaces: Role of in- Yantis, S. (1993). Stimulus-driven attentional cap-
motion systems in human vision. Science, 193,
500-502. ture. Current Directions in Psychological Sci-
visible stimuli in apparent motion correspon-
ence, 2, 156-161.
Petry, S., & Meyer, G.E. (Eds.). (1987). The per- dence. Perception, 19, 285-299.
Yantis, S., & Gibson, B.S. (1994). Object continuity
ception of illusory contours. New York: Sigman, E., & Rock, I. (1974). Stroboscopic move-
in apparent motion and attention. Canadian
Springer- Verlag. ment based on perceptual intelligence. Percep-
Journal of Experimental Psychology, 48, 182-
Ramachandran, V.S., & Anstis, S.M. (1983). Per- tion, 3, 9-28.
204.
ceptual organization in moving displays. Na-Ternus, J. (1939). The problem of phenomenal iden-
ture, 304, 529-531. tity. In W.D. Ellis (Ed. and Trans.), A source- (Received 9/27/94; Accepted 10/30/94)

186 VOL. 6, NO. 3, MAY 1995

This content downloaded from 129.215.17.190 on Fri, 11 Jan 2019 21:31:10 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms