1/28/2004 slide 29
Figure and Ground
•Discovered in 1921 [Palmer 1999] p.280
•We tend to divide a scene into figures
and background
•This happens pre-consciously
•Usually easy to tell which is which (some ways of telling next)
•Usually only one side of a contour belongs to a “thing” or figure. When not, brain is confused
•Familiar shapes appear to be figures faster than unfamiliar ones…
M.C. Escher