Abstract
It has been revealed that the visual system processes information in hierarchical architecture, in which information flow bi-directionally, instead of one-way flow from lower layer to higher layer. Due to such architecture, the early stage in the hierarchy is affected by higher stages. This holds true for the stages of contour perception, corresponding to the early stage, and figure-ground separation, corresponding to higher stages. Kikuchi & Oguni (2005) found that the degree of contour integration (saliency of contour) is influenced by the process of figure/ground separation.
This study found a phenomenon that the perceptual position of contour shifts toward the figural side to which contour belongs, through a series of psychophysical experiments. We can understand this phenomenon as a kind of affection of figure-ground separation to the contour perception. Several illusions can be explained from our standpoint. We can infer that generally the sizes of objects might be perceived smaller than the actual ones, and the sizes of holes might be perceived larger.
