Surface features do not guide object continuity even when spatiotemporal information is ambiguous

Perception of object continuity depends on establishing correspondence between objects viewed across disruptions in visual information. Several researchers have claimed that object correspondence is based only on spatiotemporal information (Kahneman et al., 1992); other
studies suggest that surface features may also play a role in guiding object continuity (e.g., Hollingworth & Franconeri, 2009). This study examined whether surface features can be used to establish object correspondence when spatiotemporal information is ambiguous, using the object-reviewing paradigm. We manipulated spatiotemporal congruency (Experiment 1) and color congruency under conditions of spatiotemporal ambiguity and
spatiotemporal discontinuity (Experiments 2-3). Object-specific preview benefit was observed only for unambiguous spatiotemporal information (consistent trajectory under occlusion; Experiment 1), but not for spatiotemporal ambiguity (unpredictable trajectory under occlusion; Experiment 2) and spatiotemporal discontinuity (Experiment 3). These results suggest that surface features cannot be used to establish object correspondence even when spatiotemporal information is ambiguous, thus supporting the view that object correspondence is based only on spatiotemporal information.