The importance of being convex: an advantage for convexity when judging position.
Perception of contour polarity was investigated in five experiments in which observers had to judge the vertical position of a vertex. When the vertex was perceived as convex, the level of performance as measured by reaction time and errors was higher than when the same vertex was perceived as concave. I conclude that contour polarity affects how observers perceive shape, and in particular part structure, and that the position of a part is more readily available than the position of a boundary between parts.
Bertamini
M
M
Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, UK. M.Bertamini@liverpool.ac.uk
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology