A threshold difference produced by a figure-ground dichotomy.

Weitzman, Bernard

doi:10.1037/h0048017

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…The detection of high spatial frequency targets has been found to be enhanced in perceived figure relative to perceived ground regions, whereas for low spatial frequency targets, the results have been the reverse (Wong & Weisstein, 1983). Detection of contour discontinuity, a task requiring detailed (high spatial frequency) information, has also been found to be better when the contour is part of a figure than when it is part of a ground (Weitzman, 1963).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

A spatial frequency effect on perceived depth

Brown

Weisstein

1988

Perception & Psychophysics

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We report a spatial frequency influence on perceptual organization. If regions filled with relatively higher spatial frequency sinusoidal gratings are adjacent to regions containing relatively lower spatial frequency gratings, the regions with the higher frequency will appear closer in depth than those containing the lower frequency. This depth effect is evident even when conflicting stereo information is present.Previous work has revealed an intriguing phenomenon in apparent depth (Brown & Weisstein, 1985). If alternate "bars" (horizontal rectangles) in a visual field are filled with sinusoidal gratings that differ in spatial frequency, the regions with the relatively higher frequency grating will appear closer in depth than the regions with the relatively lower frequency grating ( Figure I). This appearance of depth increases as the octave separation between the high-and low-frequency gratings increases. The effect is consistent, and, when considered in terms of relative size and detail perspective (Kaufman, 1974), it is also unexpected. According to these monocular depth cues, the larger bars of the lower frequency filled regions might be expected to provide depth/distance information indicating that they are nearer in depth than the narrower bars of the higher frequency filled regions.There is increasing evidence of a link between the perception of depth and the sensitivity of the visual system to spatial frequency information. For example, Pentland (1985) has shown that the more an occluded object is blurred (high-spatial-frequency information being attenuated) the more the occluding object appears to stand out in apparent depth in front of it. Other related studies have found spatial frequency influences on figure-ground perception (Klymenko & Weisstein, 1986;Wong & Weisstein, 1985). Alternate regions of figure-ground reversible configurations were filled with sinusoidal gratings of differing spatial frequency. Whether the configuration was Rubin's (1921Rubin's ( /1958 containing the relatively lower spatial frequency. The larger the octave separation in spatial frequency, the more likely the higher frequency filled regions were organized as figure. While these studies did not directly address the perceived depth created within their stimuli, the implicit depth relations accompanying a figure-ground segregation specified the figure regions (and thus the relatively higher spatial frequency filled regions) closer in depth a greater percentage of the time.Most pertinent to our present findings are studies that directly examined the effect of spatial frequency on the perception of depth (Frisby & Mayhew, 1978;Schor & Howarth, 1986). Frisby and Mayhew (1978) used stimuli consisting of two-dimensional, spatial frequency filtered, rivalrous-textured, random-dot stereograms. They found that a central square centered at 10 cycles per degree (cpd) appeared closer in depth than its surround centered at 2.5 cpd, despite contrary stereo information, Two factors may have contributed to their results. Having a smaller...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

A spatial frequency effect on perceived depth

Brown

Weisstein

1988

Perception & Psychophysics

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“…In view of these differences between figure and ground, it is not surprising that elements and aspects of a picture are more likely /to!> be noted and remembered if they belong to the figure than if they belong to the ground (Weitzman, 1963). Similarly, Luria (1961) reports that children find it much easier to respond to information conveyed by the figure than to information conveyed by the background.…”

Section: A a A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Attention and Effort

Egeth¹,

Kahneman²

1975

The American Journal of Psychology

1,738

102

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 146.201.208.22 on Thu, 01 Oct 2015 23:32:09 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions BOOK REVIEWS BOOK REVIEWSprovides a brief overview of the symposium and makes the telling point that one "cannot get a machine to do anything very intelligent unless it does understand the knowledge appropriate to its domain. Machine intelligence is machine understanding." A few final, general comments about this volume appear in order. First, the degree to which the book contains contributions that all approach 'cognition,' 'understanding,' and so on, in terms of information processing or computer science greatly enhances its overall impact. It is not uncommon to see a published symposium that is spread too thin and attempts a too great a diversity of orientation among its participants. Happily, this fault is not true of the present book. Second, with few minor exceptions, the papers are very clearly written and represent an excellent cross section of current attempts to model complex problem solving and similar topics by means of nontrivial simulation models and the like. Third, while this book is already the ninth of a series, it is certainly still within the category of fresh, stimulating, and highly provocative material, and one looks forward to the series continuing at this high level of excellence.

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“…Figure has been demonstrated to facilitate the performance of perceptual tasks in a number of studies. For example, contour discontinuity is better detected in an area perceived as figure than in an area perceived as ground (Weitzman, 1963); retinal image displacement is more visible in a figural region than in a ground region of an Escher picture (Bridgeman, 1981). Recently we have found that the orientation of a tilted line is discriminated more accurately when it is flashed in the figural region than when it is flashed in the ground region of Rubin's reversible goblet-faces picture (Wong & Weisstein, 1982).…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

Sharp targets are detected better against a figure, and blurred targets are detected better against a background.

Wong¹,

Weisstein²

1983

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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There is growing evidence that the performance of perceptual tasks is often facilitated by perceived "figureness." Accuracy in detection and discrimination of targets is higher when the targets are presented in figural regions than when they are presented in ground regions of an image. This "figure superiority" might be a result of a functional specialization in the visual analysis of figure; recent theories have also assumed a functional specialization in the visual analysis of ground. If so, we might expect "ground superiority" in situations where task performance requires information available primarily through analysis of ground. We manipulated the spatial frequency of a small line segment and found that when it was sharp (i.e., the high-spatial-frequency components were present), it was detected better in figural regions, but when we blurred it (only the low-to-medium spatial frequencies were present) it was detected better in ground regions. These findings support the view that figure and ground analyses involve different specialized functions.

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A threshold difference produced by a figure-ground dichotomy.

Cited by 14 publications

References 5 publications

A spatial frequency effect on perceived depth

A spatial frequency effect on perceived depth

Attention and Effort

Sharp targets are detected better against a figure, and blurred targets are detected better against a background.

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