A new cue to figure-ground coding: Top-bottom polarity

Johan Hulleman, Glyn Humphreys

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present evidence for a new figure-ground cue: top-bottom polarity. In an explicit reporting task, participants were more likely to interpret stimuli with a wide base and a narrow top as a figure. A similar advantage for wide-based stimuli also occurred in a visual short-term memory task, where the stimuli had ambiguous figure-ground relations. Further support comes from a figural search task. Figural search is a discrimination task in which participants are set to search for a symmetric target in a display with ambiguous figure-ground organization. We show that figural search was easier when stimuli with a top-bottom polarity were placed in an orientation where they had a wide base and a narrow top, relative to when this orientation was inverted. This polarity effect was present when participants were set to use color to parse figure from ground, and it was magnified when the participants did not have any foreknowledge of the color of the symmetric target. Taken together the results suggest that top-bottom polarity influences figure-ground assignment, with wide base stimuli being preferred as a figure. In addition, the figural search task can serve as a useful procedure to examine figure-ground assignment.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2779-2791
Number of pages13
JournalVision Research
Volume44
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2004

Keywords

  • figure-ground segregation
  • perceptual organization

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A new cue to figure-ground coding: Top-bottom polarity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this