Abstract
In visual perception, part segmentation of an object is considered to be guided by image-based properties, such as occurrences of deep concavities in the outer contour. However, object-based properties can also provide information regarding segmentation. In this study, outer contours and interpretations of object configurations were manipulated to examine differences between image-based and object-based segmentation in a visual search task. We found that locating a two-dimensional object configuration with deep concavities in the outer contour depends on the type of outer contour of the surrounding distractors. In addition, locating a three-dimensional object configuration was harder when it was surrounded by object-based-disconnected distractors, as compared with object-based-connected distractors, regardless of image-based connections in these distractors. We conclude that segmentation based on the outer contours of a target facilitates its localization. However, when three-dimensional information is available, segmentation strongly depends on object-based properties, rather than on image-based properties.
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This research was conducted at the Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information. R.L. received a grant from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Koning, A., Van Lier, R. From interpretation to segmentation. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 12, 917–924 (2005). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196786
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196786