Figure-ground

The paper is focused on the concept of perceptual relation according to experimental phenomenology, belonging to Gestaltist and ecological traditions. First of all, it will be shown the meaning of “relation” in the perceptual domain, including a specific definition of object and subject. For this purpose, the paper will present the difference with the representationalist perspective, which challenges immediate experience and the perception of unified objects.
Secondly, the concept of “perceptual relation” will be compared to the idea of Gestalttheorie’s “intrinsic relation”. It will be sustained that perceptual relations do not concern only connections between the parts and the whole of a configuration, but they extend to otherness, namely perceptual object, other subjects, and the Umwelt. For this purpose, the paper will provide some examples of ambiguity of the relation ground-figure, especially reversible and bistable figures.

Keywords: Experimental Phenomenology; Perceptual Relation; Intrinsic Relation; Extended Mind; Figure-Ground Relation

Perceptual neuroscience has identified mechanisms of perceptual grouping which account for the ways in which visual sensitivity to order and structural regularities in the environment expresses itself in behavior
and in the brain.The need to actively construct ordered representations of objects and their trajectories in depth is mandated as soon as visual signals reach the retina, given the occlusion of such signals by retinal veins or blur. Multiple stage of neural processing transform fragmented signals into visual key representations of 3D scenes that can be used to control behaviors effectively. Since behvioral success, i.e. our survival, depends on our ability to pick up order in the physical world, and since we conceive the latter as an ordered one, perception must somehow be sensitive to (i.e. able to sense) structural regularities in the environment.

In 1923, Gelb and Granit, using a method of adjustment for a small red light, reported a lower threshold for the target when presented on a ground region than on an adjacent figural region. More recent work in perceptual organization has found precisely the opposite—a processing advantage seems to go to items presented on the figure, not the ground. Although Gelb and Granit continue to be cited for their finding, it has not previously been available as an English translation. Understanding their methodology and results is important for integrating early Gestalt theory with more recent investigations.