In search of closure: Subjective contour illusions, gestalt completion tests, and implications

This study investigates the construct validity of perceptual closure tests (CTs), and isolates a common processing demand from the right-hemisphere. Sixty-seven patients with focal unilateral lesions (34 right side, 33 left side), and 80 control subjects participated. Multivariate analyses indicated that there was substantial age-related variance in all CTs, while sex was variably significant; CTs are not uniform in their discriminating ability, and hence factorially complex; and their specifically right hemisphere-sensitive dimension was subjective contour illusions, and interestingly unrelated to facial discrimination ability. The methodological and theoretical implications are discussed.

[1]  T. Parks.  Illusory figures: a (mostly) atheoretical review. , 1984, Psychological bulletin.

[2]  H. Lansdell.  Relation of Extent of Temporal Removals to Closure and Visuomotor Factors , 1970, Perceptual and motor skills.

[3]  K. Hamsher.  Stereopsis and unilateral brain disease. , 1978, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[4]  S. Korchin,et al.  Age differences in the perception of closure. , 1957, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[5]  J. Hochberg,et al.  A quantitative approach to figural "goodness". , 1953, Journal of experimental psychology.

[6]  Ruben C. Gur,et al.  Cognitive task effects on hemispheric blood flow in humans: Evidence for individual differences in hemispheric activation , 1980, Brain and Language.

[7]  E. Renzi,et al.  VISUAL RECOGNITION IN PATIENTS WITH UNILATERAL CEREBRAL DISEASE , 1966, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[8]  R. Leeper.  A Study of a Neglected Portion of the Field of Learning—the Development of Sensory Organization , 1935 .

[9]  I. Rock,et al.  Illusory Contours as the Solution to a Problem , 1979, Perception.

[10]  J. Bogen,et al.  Cultural hemisphericity: evidence from cognitive tests. , 1979, The International journal of neuroscience.

[11]  K. D. Hamsher,et al.  Stereopsis and the perception of anomalous contours , 1978, Neuropsychologia.

[12]  Carol L. Pemberton,et al.  The closure factors related to other cognitive processes , 1952 .

[13]  R. L. Gregory,et al.  Illusory contours and stereo depth , 1974 .

[14]  Susan T. Dumais,et al.  The effects of illumination level and retinal size on the apparent strength of subjective contours , 1976 .

[15]  M. Wertheimer.  Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt. II , 1923 .

[16]  W. Ritchie Russell,et al.  Dissociated visual perceptual and spatial deficits in focal lesions of the right hemisphere , 1969 .

[17]  H. H. Hsiao.  A suggestive review of Gestalt psychology. , 1928 .

[18]  Wilhelm Fuchs.  Completion phenomena in hemianopic vision. , 1938 .

[19]  C. M. Mooney,et al.  Closure with negative after-images under flickering light. , 1956, Canadian journal of psychology.

[20]  N. Cameron,et al.  Age and sex differences in the perception of incomplete pictures by adults. , 1946, The Journal of genetic psychology.

[21]  B JULESZ,et al.  Binocular Depth Perception without Familiarity Cues , 1964, Science.

[22]  A. Benton,et al.  A Short Form of the Test of Facial Recognition for Clinical Use , 1975 .

[23]  S. Coren,et al.  SUBJECTIVE CONTOURS AND APPARENT DEPTH , 2005 .

[24]  L. Thurstone.  A factorial study of perception , 1944 .

[25]  Mooney Cm,et al.  A new closure test. , 1951 .

[26]  L. Gerstman,et al.  Evidence for differentiation of right hemisphere visual-perceptual functions , 1984, Brain and Cognition.