Acts of perceptual inquiry: problems for any stimulus-based simplicity theory

Stimulus-specified simplicity is simply insufficient to predict the appearance of objects' 3D forms and figural shapes, etc., as originally intended. Which information a viewer chooses to attend can determine both what 3D structure is perceived and its attendant perceptual consequences; moreover, a shape's meaningfulness or denotivity [M.A. Peterson, Current Directions in Psychological Science 3 (1994) 105] can overcome simplicity-based figure-ground segregation. In both cases, perceptual consequences, such as subsequent perceived movements, are constrained or primed in ways that can help us corroborate and define what the viewer has perceived; that may help us in studying the underlying events in brain processing; and that should help in designing such perceptual applications as still and animated displays. Demonstrations, theoretical framework, and potential research tools are offered.