Abstract
<p>An object moving behind another (becoming occluded) persists in awareness and can be tracked with high accuracy. Further, behavioural evidence suggests location information is maintained under occlusion and dynamically updated. Combining the temporal resolution of EEG with a real-time multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) technique, this study investigates the extent of location information for hidden stimuli versus truly disappearing stimuli, in two experiments. Examining the full time course of position information in the neural response, the results of this study found no evidence for ongoing position tracking during occlusion. However, a differential mid-latency response to objects that became occluded versus disappeared was identified. This differential signal was evident around ~200ms after occlusion and persisted across occluder sizes, suggesting that it arose from a difference in offset signalling when objects enter occlusion as opposed to truly disappearing. These results suggest that the continuous positions of visible and occluded objects are updated through separate neural mechanisms, and that offset signals encode that an object is hidden but persistent, rather than fully disappeared.</p>