Figur-Auffassung und figurale Nachwirkungen

Abstract

Summary. The present study sought to determine whether an inspectionpattern (I-pattern) appearing merely as a structure and not as a figure (according to RUBI~) could produce figural after-effects (FAE); and what influence did structures, phenomenally dichotemized into figure and ground, have on the FAE. The I-pattern was a grid of black lines on a white ground. Following the principle of the Gottsehaldt-figures, a small house was hidden in the grid. The FAE of the I-pattern were measured when it was seen as: 1. a simple structure; 2. a structure where the attention was concentrated on. the part containing the hidden house; 3. a structured ground for another figure in a different part of the pattern; 4. a figure (house) with the surrounding structure. In addition the FAE for the isolated house on a white background was measured.The findings indicated that not only a figure but also a structhre can produce FAE. The ~'AE decreases when the structure appears as the ground of a figure.The FAE of ]igures are also influenced by the surrounding ground. The more clearly figure and ground are differentiated, the stronge r are the FAE.The results were interpreted as indicating that the processes responsible for the FAE are located at the cortical level where they can be modified by figural organization and attention.The intensity of the underlying central processes is i.n~reased by concentration of attention on parts of the I-pattern; the figure-ground-differentiation is thought to produce a diehotomization of the previously homogeneous physiological process into an increased figure-process