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Related Concept Videos

Gestalt Principles of Perception01:21

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...
Perceptual Constancy01:12

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognize that objects remain consistent and unchanged even when their appearance varies due to changes in sensory input. There are four main types of perceptual constancy: size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy, and brightness constancy.
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision01:15

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.
Perception01:28

Perception

Perception is a fundamental psychological process that enables individuals to organize, interpret, and consciously experience sensory information. This process is crucial for understanding and interacting with the world around us. It includes both bottom-up and top-down processing, each playing a distinct role in how we perceive our environment.
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...
Parallel Processing01:20

Parallel Processing

The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...
Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments
13:00

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

Attention and competition in figure-ground perception.

Mary A Peterson1, Elizabeth Salvagio

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. mapeters@u.arizona.edu

Progress in Brain Research
|September 8, 2009
PubMed
Summary

Attention and competition influence figure-ground perception. Studies show competition suppresses losing stimuli, but attention may not resolve figure-ground competition as hypothesized.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Figure-ground perception is crucial for organizing visual scenes.
  • Attention and high-level factors like familiarity impact how we distinguish objects from their background.
  • The Biased Competition Model of Attention proposes attention resolves neural representation competition, suppressing less relevant stimuli.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the roles of attention and competition in figure-ground perception.
  • To examine if the Biased Competition Model of Attention extends to figure-ground perception.
  • To determine if increased figure-ground competition draws more attention.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing evidence on attention, familiarity, and figure-ground perception.

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Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

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Last Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments
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Published on: January 23, 2017

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  • Discussion of computational models of attention.
  • Behavioral experiments testing competition and attention in figure-ground tasks.

    • Main Results:

    • Evidence suggests figure-ground perception involves between-object competition, suppressing the losing shape.
    • Behavioral experiments showed slowed responses to targets at the location of a suppressed competitor.
    • Responses to targets at the location of the winning competitor were not speeded, contradicting attention-driven resolution.

    Conclusions:

    • Figure-ground competition appears to operate via suppression of losing stimuli.
    • Current findings do not fully support the extension of the Biased Competition Model of Attention to figure-ground perception.
    • Attention may function through both suppression and facilitation mechanisms in visual processing.