Summary
The semantic-priming paradigm was used to investigate the effect of semantic context on the latency to identify visually ambiguous and unambiguous targets. Ambiguous targets had reversible figure-ground organizations analogous to Rubin's vase-profiles picture in which the figural vase is shaped by the same contour that, if reassigned, shapes two figural profiles. The two organizations of the ambiguous targets were either a series of black irregular shapes or a familiar word in white letters; subjects were required to achieve the latter organization. Unambiguous target words were not reversible. Related primes, unlike unrelated primes, facilitated the identification of both types of target; but the magnitude of facilitation was greater for ambiguous targets. The results demonstrate that semantic context influences the speed of figure-ground organization and add perceptual ambiguity to the target manipulations that interact with context to affect encoding.
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Davis, J., Schiffman, H.R. & Greist-Bousquet, S. Semantic context and figure-ground organization. Psychol. Res 52, 306–309 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00868062
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00868062