High-level face shape adaptation depends on visual awareness: Evidence from continuous flash suppression

• DOI: 10.1167/11.8.5
• Publication Date: 2011-07-09T03:47:37Z
• Authors: T. Stein; P. Sterzer
• Keywords: Monocular; Visual processing

When incompatible images are presented to the two eyes, one image dominates awareness while other is rendered invisible by interocular suppression. It has remained unclear whether complex visual information can reach high-level processing stages in ventral pathway during such Here, we asked basic face shape, which thought be encoded areas of stream, processed without awareness. We measured aftereffects induced prolonged exposure distorted faces continuous flash Despite constant physical stimulation, some trials adaptor was fully suppressed from awareness, it overcame suppression and became partially visible. Aftereffects were even entirely adaptors, albeit reduced compared visible only when test stimuli same size eye. However, different eyes or eye but sizes, restricted adaptors. These results suggest that a monocular, low-level component shape adaptation escapes proceed By contrast, components encoding involving stream eliminated require