Must Figure-Ground Organization Precede Object Recognition? An Assumption in Peril
- 1 September 1994
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Psychological Science
- Vol. 5 (5), 253-259
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1994.tb00622.x
Abstract
The assumption that figure-ground segmentation must precede object or shape recognition has been central to theories of visual perception We showed that assumption to be incorrect in an experiment in which observers reported the first perceived figure-ground organization of briefly exposed stimuli depicting two regions sharing a figure-ground border We manipulated the symmetry of the two regions and their orientation-dependent denotivity (roughly, their meaningfulness), and measured how each of these variables influenced figure-ground reports when the stimuli were exposed for 14, 28, 57, 86, or 100 ms, and followed immediately by a mask Influences on figure-ground organization from both symmetry and orientation-dependent object recognition processes were found, both were observed first in the 28-ms condition Object recognition inputs did not dominate symmetry inputs We suggest that object recognition processes may operate simultaneously on both sides of edges detected before figure-ground relationships are determinedKeywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Shape Recognition Inputs To Figure-Ground Organization in Three-Dimensional DisplaysCognitive Psychology, 1993
- Viewer-Centered and Object-Centered Representations in the Recognition of Naturalistic Line DrawingsPsychological Science, 1991
- When does Human Object Recognition use a Viewer-Centered Reference Frame?Psychological Science, 1990
- Mental rotation and orientation-dependence in shape recognitionCognitive Psychology, 1989
- Mental rotation and the identification of disoriented objects.Canadian Journal of Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie, 1988
- The Concave Cusp as a Determiner of Figure—GroundPerception, 1988
- A case of viewer-centered object perceptionCognitive Psychology, 1987
- Recognition-by-components: A theory of human image understanding.Psychological Review, 1987
- An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: I. An account of basic findings.Psychological Review, 1981
- SOME CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE RELATION BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND COGNITIONJournal of Personality, 1949