Abstract
SUBJECTIVE figures, seen in the absence of luminance gradients (Fig. 1), provide a phenomenal illusion that can be related to the properties of single cells in the visual cortex1, offering a rare bridge between brain function and visual awareness. It remains controversial whether subjective figures arise from intelligent cognitive mechanisms2–4, or from lower-level processes in early vision5,6. The cognitive account implies that the perception of subjective figures may require serial attentive processing, whereas on the low-level account they should arise in parallel at earlier visual stages. Physiological evidence apparently fits a low-level account7,8 and indicates that some types of subjective contour may be detected earlier than the conventional Kanizsa9 type. Here we report that even Kanizsa subjective figures can be detected without focal attention at parallel stages of the human visual system.
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Davis, G., Driver, J. Parallel detection of Kanizsa subjective figures in the human visual system. Nature 371, 791–793 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/371791a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/371791a0
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