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Late influences on perceptual grouping: Amodal completion

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Abstract

Perceptual grouping is generally assumed to be an early visual process that operates on a previously unorganized image-based representation. The present experiment shows that elements perceived as occluded by a closer surface tend to be grouped with elements having the same shape as the amodally completed percept rather than with those having the same retinal shape as the incomplete stimulus. It is therefore concluded that perceptual grouping by shape similarity either occurs after amodal completion or is a temporally extended process that occurs both before and after it.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, University of California, 94720, Berkeley, CA

    Stephen E. Palmer, Jonathan Neff & Diane Beck

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  1. Stephen E. Palmer
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  2. Jonathan Neff
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  3. Diane Beck
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Additional information

This research was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grant 1-RO1-MH46141 to the first author jointly with Irvin Rock. We wish to thank Irvin Rock, Nicola Bruno, James Cutting, Wendell Garner, James Pomerantz, and Johan Wagemans for their helpful comments on prior drafts of this paper.

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Palmer, S.E., Neff, J. & Beck, D. Late influences on perceptual grouping: Amodal completion. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 3, 75–80 (1996). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210743

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210743

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