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

@article{citeulike:2017109, abstract = {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.}, author = {Wong, E. and Weisstein, N.}, citeulike-article-id = {2017109}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6221065}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=6221065}, issn = {0096-1523}, journal = {J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform}, keywords = {figure\_ground, gestalt}, month = {April}, number = {2}, pages = {194--201}, posted-at = {2007-11-29 17:14:34}, priority = {0}, title = {Sharp targets are detected better against a figure, and blurred targets are detected better against a background.}, url = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6221065}, volume = {9}, year = {1983} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2017109 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2017109 N2 - 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. IS - 2 JF - J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform SN - 0096-1523 EP - 201 TI - Sharp targets are detected better against a figure, and blurred targets are detected better against a background. VL - 9 SP - 194 KW - figure_ground KW - gestalt AU - Wong, E AU - Weisstein, N PY - 1983/04// UR - http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6221065 ER -