Is Amodal Completion Necessary for the Formation of Illusory Figures?
- 1 October 1991
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Perception
- Vol. 20 (5) , 623-636
- https://doi.org/10.1068/p200623
Abstract
Kanizsa's hypothesis suggests that the creation of an anomalous surface is due to the amodal completion of the inducers. In the present paper a new pattern that is able to disconfirm this explanation is presented. According to the Helmholtz—Ratoosh law amodal completion only occurs when the borders of two adjacent surfaces meet forming T-shaped junctions. When the borders of the two adjacent surfaces have Y-shaped junctions, amodal completion is absent. However, when a pattern inducing an anomalous figure has the latter figural characteristics, in spite of the absence of amodal completion, an illusory figure is still visible. In this paper a set of experimental results (carried out by means of a magnitude estimation procedure as well as the method of constant stimuli) supporting the aforementioned observations is presented.Keywords
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