Cognitive psychology

Curvature

Biology

Prime (order theory)

Priming (agriculture)

Biochemistry

Computer science

Botany

Stimulus (psychology)

Genetics

Segmentation

Psychology

Pattern recognition (psychology)

Mathematics

Artificial intelligence

Geometry

Polarity (international relations)

Combinatorics

Chemistry

Cell

Germination

Computer vision

i-Perception

We report two experiments on the role of mid-level processes in image segmentation and completion. In the primed matching task of Experiment 1, a cue→prime sequence was presented before the imperative stimulus consisting of target shapes with positive versus negative contour curvature polarity and one versus two axes of mirror symmetry. Priming shapes were included in two composite occlusion displays with the same T-junction information and different geometric features supporting a distinct balance between completion and mosaic solutions. A cue, either congruent or incongruent with targets, preceded the presentation of the composite priming display. Matching performance was affected by primes in the expected direction, while cue congruency participated only in a marginally significant three-way interaction, and prime duration had no effect. In Experiment 2, the cue→prime sequence was replaced by a fixation cross to control for the priming effect obtained in Experiment 1. The study confirmed that contour connectability and curvature polarity are effective structural factors capable of competing with symmetry in mid-level image segmentation and completion processes.

Mid-level Priming by Completion vs. Mosaic Solutions