A new cue to figure-ground coding: top-bottom polarity.
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 th...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2004
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| _version_ | 1826301341035659264 |
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| author | Hulleman, J Humphreys, G |
| author_facet | Hulleman, J Humphreys, G |
| author_sort | Hulleman, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:30:56Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:e23fd863-9246-46f6-9604-5e862740a2f1 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:30:56Z |
| publishDate | 2004 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:e23fd863-9246-46f6-9604-5e862740a2f12022-03-27T09:59:47ZA new cue to figure-ground coding: top-bottom polarity.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e23fd863-9246-46f6-9604-5e862740a2f1EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2004Hulleman, JHumphreys, GWe 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. |
| spellingShingle | Hulleman, J Humphreys, G A new cue to figure-ground coding: top-bottom polarity. |
| title | A new cue to figure-ground coding: top-bottom polarity. |
| title_full | A new cue to figure-ground coding: top-bottom polarity. |
| title_fullStr | A new cue to figure-ground coding: top-bottom polarity. |
| title_full_unstemmed | A new cue to figure-ground coding: top-bottom polarity. |
| title_short | A new cue to figure-ground coding: top-bottom polarity. |
| title_sort | new cue to figure ground coding top bottom polarity |
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