Abstract
Gestalt factors are known as cues for the perception of the direction of figure. A previous study has suggested that the promotion of the direction of figure depends on "convexity" and "closure" among Gestalt factors in local contours of natural images. However, the interaction between these factors has not been clarified in natural scenes where various cues are present simultaneously. The present study examined psychophysically the effect of interaction between convexity and closure on the perception of the direction of figure. First, we selected systematically local contours (image patches) from natural images based on indices of convexity and closure. Then, we conducted psychophysical experiment to measure the direction of figure that is perceived from the local contours. Our multiple regression analysis showed that the direction of figure was judged in the direction of "closure" in the simultaneous presence of multiple factors such as in natural scene. The results also showed that the perception was highly sensitive to the direction of closure; it depended on the direction of closure, but not proportionally to the index of closure.
