Abstract
We describe and demonstrate a new class of information about relative depth across an edge and figure-ground organization based on edge-texture grouping. The central issue in both phenomena is whether the edge between two regions “belongs to” (or “is grouped with”) one side or the other. The side that is grouped with the edge is perceived as closer to the viewer and shaped by the edge, whereas the ungrouped side is perceived as farther away and extending (unshaped) behind the edge. Grouping factors that apply to the relation between edge properties and textural properties within adjacent regions should therefore systematically influence perceived depth and figural status. We report the results of several experiments that strongly support this claim for the grouping factors of common fate, proximity, and synchrony, as well as similarity of blur, color, and orientation. (See http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~plab/earlygroup/figureGroundGrouping.htm for demonstrations). Further, we argue that evidence of depth effects in certain ecologically unnatural moving and flickering displays suggests that these effects may be mediated by grouping processes rather than by inference based on simple ecological statistics. Edge-texture grouping provides a unified account of the present findings together with previously reported effects on depth perception (e.g., Yonas, Craton & Thompson, 1987) and figure-ground organization (e.g., Brown & Weisstein, 1988; Klymenko & Weisstein, 1986; Wong & Weisstein, 1985, 1987). Edge-texture grouping has important implications for depth and shape algorithms in computer vision as well as for corresponding perceptual and neural processes in human vision.
This research was NOT supported by NIMH.