Figure–ground (perception)

[1] The Gestalt theory was founded in the 20th century in Austria and Germany as a reaction against the associationist and structural schools' atomistic orientation.

The concepts explored by Wertheimer, Köhler, and Koffka in the 20th century established the foundation for the modern study of perception.

In the faces–vase drawing, the perceived shape depends critically on the direction in which the border (edge) between the black and white regions is assigned.

The human visual system will settle on either of the interpretations of the Rubin vase and alternate between them, a phenomenon known as multistable perception.

"The viewer may either observe a young girl with her head turned to the right or an old woman with a large nose and protruding chin, depending on one's perspective.

"[12] The Flag of Canada has also been cited as an example of figure–ground reversal, in which the background edges of the maple leaf can also be seen as two faces arguing.

In regards to nature versus nurture, concepts such as "lightness" and "proximity" may develop as early as birth, but recognizing "form similarity" may not be functional until activated by particular experiences.

[17] The perceptual decision in which the brain decides which item is the figure and which are part of the ground in a visual scene can be based on many cues, all of which are of a probabilistic nature.

This region of the visual cortex (located lateral to the fusiform gyrus and extending anteriorly and ventrally) has consistently shown stronger activation in response to objects versus non-objects.

In this light, Bayesian figure–ground segmentation models have been proposed to simulate the probabilistic inference by which the brain may distinguish figure from ground.

Although subjective factors can alter the probability of seeing the figure on one particular side of an edge, they tend not to overpower compositional cues.

[24] In the typical sonic scenarios people encounter, auditory figure and ground signals often overlap in time as well as in frequency content.