RMS Overview

Repeated masking suppression (RMS) is a technique for presenting stimuli below the threshold of consciousness for long durations. RMS is closely related to Continuous Flash Suppression (CFS; Tsuchiya & Koch, 2005), but relies on different visual principles that enable its use without any apparatus additional to a computer screen and a modern computer. It is based on forward- and backward-masking, separating the target stimuli and mask in time. In RMS participants are presented with masks interleaved with a target stimulus appearing at a lower contrast level. The masking stimulus is presented for a duration of 67 ms each time, while the target is presented for a duration of only 34 ms (See figure below).

Tsuchiya, N., & Koch, C. (2005). Continuous flash suppression reduces negative afterimages. Nature neuroscience, 8(8), 1096-1101.

In breaking RMS (bRMS) - the paradigm enabled by this software package - stimuli are presented long enough for the target stimulus to break through RMS and become visible. Participants’ task is to indicate the location of the target stimulus relative to midscreen as soon as it becomes visible. Participants’ reaction times thus serve as a measure of the time they needed to become conscious of the target stimulus - or its breaking time (BT). bRMS BTs have been demonstrated to be a valid measure of prioritization for consciousness, and show convergent validity with bCFS BTs (Abir & Hassin, 2020).

Abir, Y., & Hassin, R. R. (2020). Getting to the heart of it: Multi-method exploration of nonconscious prioritization processes. Consciousness and Cognition, 85, 103005.