A phantom context effect: Visual phantoms enhance target visibility

Moving visual phantoms may be considered an illusion in which a physically homogeneous region is perceptually segregated into figure (phantom) and ground (nonphantom) regions (Brown, 1985). The visibility of briefly flashed line segments within these identical physical regions was found to be influenced by whether or not the phantom illusion was visible. When no phantoms were seen, no difference in target visibility was evident. When phantoms were visible, target visibility was superior in phantom versus nonphantom regions of three different phantom displays. The processing of figure and ground has been hypothesized to involve specialized mechanisms in the visual pathways (Weisstein & Wong, 1986). The results suggest that the difference in visual processing sensitivity within physically defined figure and ground regions can also occur when the perceived organization is illusory.

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