Delayed offset of distracters masks a local target.

Object substitution masking (OSM) is observed when a brief target surrounded with a mask is presented among distracter stimuli and cannot be identified when it and the distracters disappear but the mask remains in view. We probed whether OSM also occurs without a local mask object when the distracters remain after target offset. We also varied the congruence between the local target and the global search display and the grouping properties of the delayed offset distracters. A target was briefly presented in a global object configuration of distracters that had delayed offset. Results showed that OSM could be observed with delayed offset of distracters grouped into a global mask shape. Congruence of the shapes of the global and local objects did not affect OSM, suggesting that a generalized abstract visual pattern representation of the global object may not be involved in OSM nor did the grouping properties of the delayed offset distracters influence OSM.