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Science 5 November 1982:
Vol. 218. no. 4572, pp. 587 - 589
DOI: 10.1126/science.7123261
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Articles

Science, Vol 218, Issue 4572, 587-589
Copyright © 1982 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

A new perceptual context-superiority effect: line segments are more visible against a figure than against a ground

E Wong and N Weisstein

Context, specifically the perceived figure or ground of an ambiguous form that surrounds a diagonal line segment, can influence the discrimination of that line segment even though the physical attributes of the context remain the same during figure-ground reversals. When the line segment was flashed on a region of the form seen as figure, discrimination was twice as accurate as when the line segment was flashed in isolation, and it was at least three times as accurate as when the line segment was flashed on that same region seen as ground.


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