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Grouping puts figure-ground assignment in context by constraining propagation of edge assignment

Brooks

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Abstract

Figure-ground organization involves the assignment of edges to a figural shape on one or the other side of each dividing edge. Established visual cues for edge assignment primarily concern relatively local rather than contextual factors. In the present article, we show that an assignment for a locally unbiased edge can be affected by an assignment of a remote contextual edge that has its own locally biased assignment. We find that such propagation of edge assignment from the biased remote context occurs only when the biased and unbiased edges are grouped. This new principle, whereby grouping constrains the propagation of figural edge assignment, emerges from both subjective reports and an objective short-term edge-matching task. It generalizes from moving displays involving grouping by common fate and collinearity, to static displays with grouping by similarity of edge-contrast polarity, or apparent occlusion. Our results identify a new contextual influence on edge assignment. They also identify a new mechanistic relation between grouping and figure-ground processes, whereby grouping between remote elements can constrain the propagation of edge assignment between those elements. Supplemental materials for this article may be downloaded from http://app.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

Acceptance Date Jan 31, 2010
Publication Date May 1, 2010
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics
Print ISSN 1943-3921
Publisher Springer Verlag
Pages 1431- 1431
DOI https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.72.5.1431
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/APP.72.5.1431

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