Investigation of the Figure Superiority Effect in Sustained Attention

This study examined whether enhanced perceptual discrimination for targets presented on figural than on ground elements, namely the figure superiority effect, extends to performance on vigilance or sustained attention tasks. In the experimental condition, targets requiring discriminations of line orientation were presented on figure-ground displays that could be organized as a face, a seahorse, and a pineapple, respectively, against a uniform black or white background. A control condition was also employed in which the same targets were presented on a bipartite black/white field. Figure-ground organization did not differentially effect signal detection in the experimental condition. However, perceptual sensitivity was significantly greater for signals appearing in the meaningful figure-ground display than in the control display, which lacked a meaningful figure-ground segregation. Consequently, meaningful figure-ground organization can be a critical psychophysical factor in controlling sustained attention.