Processes Involved in the Computation of a Shape Description

Abstract

The encoding of shape information from spatially separate items was investigated in 3 experiments. In Experiment 1a, participants had to search for an inward-pointing arc among a set of outward-pointing arcs; participants in Experiment 1b were given the opposite task. Search was efficient if distractor arcs pointed away from fixation and there was curvilinearity between neighboring end-terminators (Experiment 1a) but relatively inefficient if distractor arcs pointed toward fixation (Experiment 1b). In Experiments 2 and 3, connecting endterminators did not change performance. Results reflect the involvement of mechanisms of shape encoding.