Abstract
The relation between figure ground organization and attention is a complicated one. Some findings (Nelson & Palmer, 2008; Wong & Weisstein, 1982) have indicated an advantage for the figural region. However, in a much earlier work, Gelb & Granit (1923) presented evidence that targets in the ground region were more perceptually distinguishable than targets in the figure region, a claim that would seem to be contrary. In the present research, we re-examine Gelb & Granit’s work, and claim that these effects are due to a lower-level effect, that of masking due to proximity to surrounding contours. In a series of experiments using stimuli constructed from the original studies, using a 2AFC detection procedure, we find that targets are more detectible in the ground region only when the figure is surrounded by fully articulated contours.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015