Face or vase? Areal homogeneity effect
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 13, 2026

Detecting Pre-Stimulus Source-Level Effects on Object Perception with Magnetoencephalography
Published on: July 26, 2019
Midori Takashima1, Teruo Fujii, Ken Shiina
1Department of Psychology, Iwaki Meisei University, 5-5-1 Iino, Chuo-dai, Iwaki, Fukushima 970-8551, Japan. midori.takashima@iwakimu.ac.jp
Abstract:
To examine the effect of homogeneity of area in figure-ground organization, we made several variations of Rubin's goblet. Observers were required to judge whether they perceived a goblet or profiles (faces). Our results showed that, when both profiles were the same lightness, the percentage of judgments (goblet vs profiles) were almost equal. When the profiles were different in lightness, so that the homogeneity of the profile areas was broken, observers were more likely to perceive the profiles. When both profile areas had horizontal stripes or concentric circles and the homogeneity of the profile areas was strengthened, those areas tended to be perceived as ground. We concluded that (1) a difference in lightness was sufficient to break up the homogeneity of the profile areas; (2) good continuity was an eminent condition for unifying profile areas as ground.
Related Concept Videos
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Causes of Similarity-Dissimilarity Effect
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
Association Areas of the Cortex
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,...
One-Way ANOVA: Equal Sample Sizes
Different sample means can result in different values for the variance estimate: variance between samples. This is because the variance between samples is calculated as the product of the sample size and the variance between the...
Test for Homogeneity

