The question is addressed of whether the perception of a form is exclusively determined by a prior analysis of its elements, and two major paradigms are reviewed, viz., Gestalt and information processing. Three experiments were carried out. Experiment 1 employed a signal detection task to test the hypothesis that embedding a line segment feature in a unitary figural context would facilitate its detection. The contextual effect found falsified the theory of a one-way causation between analysis of figural elements and form perception. Experiment 2 showed that a necessary condition of this context effect on feature detection is the three-dimensionality of the unitary context. With bi-hemiretinal stimulus presentation Experiment 3 showed a significant context effect in the RVF, but not in the LVF. Some current paradigms are applied to these results; it is argued concurrently that the explanation of phenomena called "perceptual" entails the solution of two problems:, that of determining what constitutes such an explanation, and an adequate theory of the experiential aspect of perceptual phenomena. These are addressed in Appendices A and B. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/19689 |
| Date | January 1975 |
| Creators | Womersley, Marcus David |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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