Attention and figure-ground organization

Abstract

The influence of spatial attention location on figure-ground organization was assessed in an experiment in which a cued detection paradigm was paired with a figure-ground task. Viewers' fixation was held constant while a cued detection task directed their attention to a location in one of two regions within a figure-ground stimulus. Viewers were more likely to see a meaningless shape (low denotative region) as figure when spatial attention was allocated to that region than when it was allocated elsewhere. The location of spatial attention had no influence on whether or not a meaningful shape (high denotative region) was seen as figure. The results are discussed in terms of direct and indirect routes through which attention might influence figure-ground organization.