Globally inconsistent figure/ground relations induced by a negative part:

Figure/ground interpretation is a dynamic and complex process in which various factors cooperate or compete with one another. Much research has assumed that figure/ground assignment is globally consistent along the entire contour of a single figure, and has focused on global factors which affect one's perception of figure and ground. We investigated a situation where local configural cues to figure/ground conflict with global cues: a "negative part", a contour region that appears locally convex but that the global form requires be concave. To measure figure/ground assignment, we use a new task based on local contour motion attribution that allows us to measure border ownership locally at points along the contour. The results from two experiments showed that the more salient a negative part was, the more border ownership tended to locally reverse inside a negative part, creating an inconsistency of figure/ground assignment along the contour. This suggests that border ownership assignment is not an all-or-none process, but rather a locally autonomous process that is not strictly constrained by global cues.M.S.Includes bibliographical references (p. 25-26)by Sung-Ho Ki