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Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior
Published on: April 16, 2014
The effect of extraneous elements surrounding a Kanizsa-like illusory-figure pattern
1Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis 95616-8686.
Abstract:
A display in which a Kanizsa-like illusory-figure pattern of three notched circles was accompanied by several other notched circles was found to be relatively ineffective, thus confirming an important, but previously untested, suggestion. This ineffectiveness may have been due to a strengthened tendency of the visual system perceptually to 'explain' each edge of each of the three critical notches as belonging to one of the partial circles themselves, thus tending to preclude any other (ie illusory) 'explanation' of those edges.
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