A comparison of white and black targets under conditions of masking by a patterned stimulus

Abstract

When the onset of a target field was followed in time by the onset of a patterned mask, white letters on a dark field were more accurately reported than black letters located on a white field. Presenting the letters to one side of the point of fixation caused observer performance to deteriorate, but white letters continued to be reported more accurately than black letters. For each constant interval measured from target onset to mask onset, letter recognition was facilitated by introducing a dark interval between target offset and mask onset.