Figure-Ground Segmentation

Figure-Ground Segmentation

Several studies have examined that in figure-ground segmentation processes, attention to certain regions tends to cause those regions to be perceived as closer to the observer (Huang & Pashler, 2009). In this experiment we propose that the attention effect can be reversed and that the visual system will choose the interpretation according to the simplicity of the attended regions. The visual system has the ability to detect three-dimensional structures in the absence of mapping between properties. The stimuli will be presented with a variety of photographs on a color monitor. The second factor in this experiment will state that directing attention can also influence the choice of one structure over another in potentially ambiguous cases (Koffka, 1935 and Rubin, 1915 as cited by Huang & Pashler, 2009). Previous studies indicate that attention alters perception. This study will demonstrate that the simplicity of the presented visual stimuli will direct attention; in other words, the participants will choose the simplest visual information as their visual focus.

The main support for the hypothesis of the study conducted by Huang and Pashler (Huang & Pashler, 2009) indicated that the participants reported the attended region as the forefront 89 percent of the time. In addition, the participants reported the simplest visual stimuli as the foreground object. Lastly, when removing visual clues with abstract-colored clues, the participants’ attentions reverted back to the attended region.

In a previous study coordinated by Kimchi and Peterson (Kimchi & Peterson, 2008), it was demonstrated that figure-ground segmentation could occur without attention. The design involved two displays, each presenting a smal...

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...und Displays. Perception & Psychophysics, 69, 382-392.

Palmer, S.E. & Ghose, T. (2008). Extremal Edges: A Powerful Cue to Depth Perception and Figure-Ground Organization. Association for Psychological Science, 19(1), 77-84.

Peterson, M.A. (1994). Object Recognition Processes Can and Do Operate Before Figure-Ground Organization. American Psychological Society, 3(4), 105-111.

Rubin, E. (1958). Figure and ground. In D.C. Beardslee & M. Wertheimer (Eds.), Readings in Perception (pp. 194-203). Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand. (Original work published 1915)

Vecera, S.P., Flevaris, A.V., & Filapek, J.C. (2004). Exogenous Spatial Attention Influences Figure-Ground Assignment. Psychological Science, 15(1), 20-26.

Vecera, S.P., & Palmer, S.E. (2006). Grounding the Figure: Surface Attachment Influences Figure-Ground Organization. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13(4), 563-569.