A comparison of forward and backward masking

Abstract

Differences between forward and backward masking were studied by employing a disk, a ring and a pattern as masking stimuli and letters as test stimuli. The results show that interference is greater in forward than in backward masking. Interference was found to decrease monotonically with increasing interstimulus intervals (ISI) in all cases. Of the three masking stimuli, the ring produced the least interference and the pattern the most.