Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate how the two figural cues, “alignment” and “incompletion”, would affect the microgenetic process of subjective contour (SC) perception. To change the effectiveness of each figural cue, four patterns of inducing figures (IFs) were used; “AI” pattern with both figural cues intact, “A” pattern in which the “incompletion” cue was weakened (with “alignment” as a main cue), “I” pattern in which the “alignment” cue was weakened (with “incompletion” as a main cue), and “N” pattern where both cues were obliterated. These IFs were exposed to four subjects tachistoscopically for 10-70 ms, followed by a masking pattern (dur. 500 ms) exposed without interval. All the subjects were asked to judge the clarity of the SC. The results showed that it took longer processing time to achieve the SC perception at the same clarity level as in the free observation with “I” and “N” patterns than with “AI” and “A” patterns. These results support the previous finding that “alignment” cue could generate the SC perception when each IF element was not clearly perceived and “incompletion” was not available as a main cue (Takahashi, 1990).
