Perceptual completion is a fundamental perceptual function serving to maintain robust perception against noise. For example, we can perceive a vivid experience of motion even for the discrete inputs across time and space (apparent motion: AM). In vision, stimuli irrelevant to AM perception are suppressed to maintain smooth AM perception along the AM trajectory where no physical inputs are applied. We investigated whether such perceptual masking induced by perceptual completion of dynamic inputs is general across sensory modalities by focusing on touch. Participants tried to detect a vibro-tactile target stimulus presented along the trajectory of AM induced by two other tactile stimuli on the forearm. In a control condition, the inducing stimuli were applied simultaneously, resulting in no motion percept. Tactile target detection was impaired with tactile AM. Our findings support the notion that the perceptual masking induced by perceptual completion mechanism of AM is a general function rather than a sensory specific effect.

感知完成是一种基本的感知功能，用于保持对噪声的鲁棒感知。例如，即使对于跨越时间和空间的离散输入（视在运动：AM），我们也可以感知到生动的运动体验。在视觉上，与AM感知无关的刺激被抑制，以沿未应用任何物理输入的AM轨迹保持平滑的AM感知。我们通过关注触摸，研究了通过动态输入的感知完成而引起的这种感知掩盖是否在感官模式中普遍存在。参与者试图检测由前臂上其他两个触觉刺激引起的AM轨迹上出现的振动触觉目标刺激。在对照条件下，同时施加诱导刺激，导致没有运动感觉。触觉AM损害了触觉目标的检测。我们的发现支持以下观点：由AM的知觉完成机制引起的知觉掩盖是一般功能，而不是感觉特异性作用。