Metacontrast masking does not change with different display technologies: A comparison of CRT and LCD monitors

Most vision labs have had to replace the formerly dominant CRT screens with LCDs and several studies have investigated whether changing the display type leads to changes in perceptual phenomena, since fundamental properties of the stimulation, e.g., the transition time between frames, differ between these different display technologies. While many phenomena have proven robust, Kihara et al. (2010) reported different metacontrast masking functions on LCDs compared to CRTs. This difference poses a challenge for the integration of new LCD-based findings with the established knowledge from studies with CRTs and requires theoretical accounts that consider the effects of different display types. However, before further conclusions can be drawn, the basic findings should be secured. Therefore, we tried to reproduce the display type effect by comparing metacontrast masking on an LCD and a CRT in two experiments. Our approach differs from the previous study by increasing the power and reliability of the measurements and carefully matching the two display types. In addition to display type, we varied target-mask stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) and stimulus-background polarity. Regardless of display type and polarity, we found the typical type-B masking functions. Evidence for a SOA-dependent display type effect in the black-on-white polarity condition from Experiment 1 was not replicated in Experiment 2. Overall, the results indicate that metacontrast masking effects on objective and subjective measurements, i.e., discriminatory sensitivity and phenomenological reports, do not vary significantly with display technologies. This lack of display effects is discussed in the context of current theories of metacontrast masking.