Gestalt formation promotes awareness of suppressed visual stimuli during binocular rivalry

Continuous flash suppression leverages binocular rivalry to render observers unaware of a static image for several seconds. To achieve this effect, rapidly flashing noise masks are presented the dominant eye while stimulus is non-dominant eye. Eventually “breakthrough” occurs, wherein awareness shifts shown We tested hypothesis that Gestalt formation can promote breakthrough. In two experiments, we pacman-shaped objects might or not align form illusory Kanizsa objects. measure inception breakthrough, were instructed press key at moment partial After pressing key, which stopped trial, reported how many pacmen seen and where they located. Supporting hypothesis, breakthrough was faster when aligned more often pairs if aligned. address whether these effects reflected shape perception, computational model applied pacman report distributions times an experiment with four pacmen. A full account data required increased joint probability reporting all pacmen, suggesting influence perceived cross.