Solving occlusion indeterminacy in chromatically homogeneous patterns

Overlapping figures can produce consistent depth stratification even when chromatically homogeneous. Since neither T-junctions nor X-junctions are present in these patterns, the problem arises of what rules determine the direction of depth stratification, ie which surfaces appear in front and which behind. In a series of demonstrations and formal experiments involving perception of stereopsis, motion, transparency, motion in depth, and reversible figures, the validity of the principle that the visual system tends to minimise the formation of interpolated modal contours was tested. The reason why larger surfaces tend to be seen modally in front, rather than behind, would reflect the geometrical property that when, in overlapping objects, larger surfaces are closer there will be shorter occluding boundaries than when smaller surfaces are closer. It is shown that this constraint is independent of the empirical depth cue of relative size. An example is also given of a simple computational strategy that extracts, from chromatically homogeneous patterns, occluding subjective contours corresponding to those perceived by human observers.