Visual Perception Lab
Department of Psychology in the School of Mind, Brain and Behavior at the University of Arizona
Publications
2023
Peterson, M. A., & Campbell, E. S. (2023). Backward masking implicates cortico-cortical recurrent processes in convex figure context effects and cortico-thalamic recurrent processes in resolving figure-ground ambiguity. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1243405.
Curby,K. M., Teichman, L., Peterson, M.A., & Shomstein, S. S., (2023). Holistic Processing is modulated by the probability that stimulus parts will contain relevant information. Attention, Perception, & Performance, 896, 471-481. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-023-02738-w
2022
Skocypec, R.M.; Peterson, M.A. Semantic Expectation Effects on Object Detection: Using Figure Assignment to Elucidate Mechanisms. Vision 2022, 6, 19. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/vision6010019. [link]
Durán-Barraza, G., Ghadiyaram, D., & Peterson, M. A. (2022). Effects of Conceptual Titles on the Aesthetic Appreciation of Artistic Photographs. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 02762374221082505. [link]
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2021
Flowers, C. S., Palitsky, R., Sullivan, D., & Peterson, M. A. (2021). Investigating the flexibility of attentional orienting in multiple modalities: Are spatial and temporal cues used in the context of spatiotemporal probabilities?. Visual Cognition, 29(2), 105-117. [link]
Ghose, T., & Peterson, M. A. (2021). Task set and instructions influence the weight of figural priors: A psychophysical study with extremal edges and familiar configuration. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 83(6), 2709-2727. [link]
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2020
Onie, S., Peterson, M., Le Pelley, M., & Most, S. (2020). Learned Value and Predictiveness affect Gaze but not Figure Assignment. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-020-02125-9. [link]
Barnes, C.A., Ryan, L., & Peterson, M. A. (2020). Nadel Special Issue Introduction. Hippocampus,
30, 773–775. https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.23176. [link]
Barnes, C.A., Knierim, J. J., Ryan, L., & Peterson, M. A. (2020). Special Issue Editors, Commemorating the Contributions of Lynn Nadel to the Understanding Hippocampal Function. Hippocampus, 30, 8, pp. 771 - 909, C4. [link]
Flowers, C. S., Orsten-Hooge, K. D., Jannuzi, B. G., & Peterson, M. A. (2020). Normative data for an expanded set of stimuli for testing high-level influences on object perception: OMEFA-II. PLOS ONE, 15, e0224471. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224471. [link]
Perez, D.C., Cook, S. M., & Peterson, M.A. (2020). Prior Experience Alters the Appearance of Blurry Object
Borders. Scientific Reports, 10:5821 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62728-y. [link]
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2019
Peterson, M. A. (2019). Past experience and meaning affect object detection: A hierarchical Bayesian
approach. In Psychology of Learning and Motivation-Advances in Research and Theory. Academic Press
Inc., doi:10.1016/19.03.006. [pdf] [link]
Isham, E.A., Ziskin, E., & Peterson, M.A. (2019). Limitations of Horel and McCormack's dual systems model of temporal consciousness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 42, e256. DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X19000463. [link]
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2018
Flowers, C. S., & Peterson, M. A. (2018). Semantic category priming from the groundside of objects shown
in nontarget locations at unpredictable times. Journal of Vision, 18(13), 3–3, doi:10.1167/18.13.3. [pdf]
Kilhstrom, J.F., Peterson, M.A., McConkey, K.M., Cranney, J., Gliskt, M.L., & Rose, P.M. (2018). Orientation
and Experience in the Perception of Form: A study of the Arizona Whale-Kangaroo. American Journal of
Psychology, Summer, 131 (2), pp. 129-139. [pdf]
Peterson, M.A. (2018). High-level influences on perception: Then and now. In Brown, J. (Ed.) Pioneer Visual
Neuroscience: A Festschrift for Naomi Weisstein, pp. 151-166. NY: Routledge, a Taylor & Francis Group.
2017
Cacciamani, L., Wager, E., Peterson, M. A., & Scalf, P. E. (2017). Age-Related Changes in Perirhinal Cortex
Sensitivity to Configuration and Part Familiarity and Connectivity to Visual Cortex. Frontiers in aging
neuroscience, 9, 291. [pdf]
Lass, J. W., Bennett, P. J., Peterson, M. A., & Sekuler, A. B. (2017). Effects of aging on figure-ground
perception: Convexity context effects and competition resolution. Journal of Vision, 17(2):15, 1–16,
doi:10.1167/17.2.15. [pdf]
Peterson, M, A., Mojica, A. J., Salvagio, E., Kimchi, R. (2017). Figural Properties Are Prioritized for
Search Under Conditions of Uncertainty: Setting Boundery Conditions on Claims that Figures
Automatically Attract Attention. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics. [pdf]
2016
Sanguinetti, J. L. & Peterson, M.A. (2016). A Behavioral Task Sets an Upper Bound on The Time
Required to Access Object Memories Before Object Segregation. Journal of Vision, 16(15): 26, 1-
16. [pdf]
Anderson, J. A. E., Healey, M. K., Hasher, L., & Peterson, M. A. (2016). Age-related deficits in
inhibition in figure-ground assignment. Journal of Vision, 16(7):6, 1–12, doi:10.1167/16.7.6. [pdf]
Spanò, G., Peterson, M.A., Nadel, L., & Edgin, J.O. (2016). Seeing can be remembering: Interactions
between memory and perception in typical and atypical development. Clinical Psychological
Science, 4(2), p. 254-271. DOI: 10.1177/2167702615590997 [pdf]
Sanguinetti, J. L., Trujillo, L. T., Schnyer, D. M., Allen, J. J. B., & Peterson, M. A. (2016). Increased alpha band activity indexes inhibitory competition across a border during figure assignment.Vision Research, 126, pp. 120-130. Online publication: 28-AUG-2015. DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2015.06.008. [pdf]
2015
Wager, E. E., Peterson, M. A., Folstein, J., & Scalf, P. E. (2015). Ground-based inhibition: suppressive perceptual mechanisms interact with top-down attention to reduce distractor interference. Journal of Vision, 15(8):9 (pp. 1-14). doi:10.1167/15.8.9. [pdf]
Cacciamani, L., Scalf, P. E., & Peterson, M. A. (2015). Neural evidence for competition-mediated suppression in the perception of a single object. Cortex, 72 (November), pp. 124-139. [pdf]
2014
Cacciamani, L., Mojica, A. J., Sanguinetti, J. L., & Peterson, M. A. (2014). Semantic access occurs outside of awareness for the ground side of a figure. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. DOI: 10.3758/s13414-014-0743-y [pdf]
Sanguinetti, J. L., Allen, J. J., & Peterson, M. A. (2014). The ground side of an object: Perceived as shapeless yet processed for semantics. Psychological Science, 25(1), 256-264. [pdf] [supp mats]
Cacciamani, L., Ayars, A. A., & Peterson, M. A. (2014). Spatially rearranged parts can facilitate perception of intact whole objects. Frontiers in Psychology: Perception Science, 5(82), 1-11. [pdf]
Mojica, A. J., & Peterson, M. A. (2014). Display-wide influences on figure-ground perception: The case of symmetry. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 76(4), 1069-1084. [pdf]
2013
Peterson, M.A., & Cacciamani, L. (2013). Toward a dynamical view of object perception. In Z. Pizlo & S. Dickinson (Eds.), Shape Perception in Human and Computer Vision: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (pp. 443-457). London: Springer. [pdf]
Nadel, L., & Peterson, M.A. (2013). The hippocampus: Part of an interactive posterior representation system spanning perceptual and memorial systems. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. DOI: 10.1037/a0033690. [pdf]
Chan, D., Peterson, M.A., Barense, M.D., & Pratt, J. (2013). How action influences object perception. Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00462. [pdf]
West, G.L., Pratt, J., & Peterson, M.A. (2013). Attention is biased to near surfaces. Psychological Bulletin and Review, 20, 1213-1220. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., & Kimchi, R. (2013). Perceptual Organization. In D. Reisberg (Ed.) Handbook of Cognitive Psychology. Oxford University Press, pp. 9-31.
Peterson, M. A. (2013). Borders, Contours, and Mechanisms. Cognitive Neuroscience, 4(1), 52-53. DOI:10.1080/17588928.2012.748026
Peterson, Mary A. (2013). Low-level and High-level Contributions to Figure-Ground Organization: Evidence and Theoretical Implications. In J. Wagemans (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Perceptual Organization. NY: Oxford University Press.
2012
Barense, M. D., Ngo, J. K., Hung, L. H., & Peterson, M. A. (2012). Interactions of memory and perception in amnesia: The figure–ground perspective. Cerebral Cortex, 22(11), 2680-2691. [pdf] [supp. materials]
Peterson, M.A., Cacciamani, L., Mojica, A.J., & Sanguinetti, J.L. (2012). Meaning can be accessed for the groundside of a figure. Journal of Gestalt Theory. [pdf]
Peterson, M.A., Cacciamani, L., Barense, M.D., & Scalf, P.E. (2012). The perirhinal cortex modulates V2 activity in response to the agreement between part familiarity and configuration familiarity. Hippocampus. [pdf]
Salvagio, E., Cacciamani, L., & Peterson, M.A. (2012). Competition-strength-depended ground suppression in figure-ground perception. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. [pdf]
Goldreich, D., & Peterson, M.A. (2012). A bayesian observer replicates convexity context effects in figure-ground perception. Seeing and Perceiving, 25, 365-395. [pdf]
Peterson, M.A. (2012). Plasticity, competition, and task effects in object perception. In J. Wolfe & L. Robertson (Eds). From Perception to Consciousness. Pp. 253-262. NY: Oxford University Press.
Wagemans, J., Elder, J.H., Kubovy, M., Palmer, S.E., Peterson, M. A., Singh, M, & von der Heydt, R. (2012). A century of Gestalt psychology in visual perception I. Perceptual grouping and figure-ground organization. Psychological Bulletin, November, 138(6), 1172-1217. (*After first author, alphabetical author order)
2011
Barense, M.D., Ngo, J.K.W., Hung, L.H.T., & Peterson, M.A. (2011). Interactions of memory and perception in amnesia: the figure-ground perspective. Cerebral Cortex. [pdf]
2010
Trujillo, L., Allen, J., Schnyer, D., & Peterson, M.A (2010). Neurophysiological evidence for the influence of past experience on figure–ground perception. Journal of Vision, 10(2). [pdf]
2009
Peterson, M. A. & Salvagio, E. (2009). Figure-ground perception. Scholarpedia. [link]
Tommasi, L., Peterson, M.A, & Nadel, L. (2009). Cognitive biology: Evolutionary and developmental perspectives on mind, brain, and behavior. Cambridge, MA US: MIT Press.
Gothard, K., Brooks, K., & Peterson, M.A. (2009). Multiple perceptual strategies used by macaque monkeys for face recognition. Animal Cognition, 12 (1), 155-167. [pdf]
2008
Peterson, M. A., & Salvagio, E. (2008). Inhibitory Competition in Figure-Ground Perception: Context and Convexity. Journal of Vision, 8(16): 4, 1-13. [pdf]
Kimchi, R. & Peterson, M. A. (2008). Figure-ground Segmentation Can Occur Without Attention. Psychological Science, 19(7), 660-668. [pdf]
Thomas, C., Moya, L., Avidan, G., Humphreys, K., Jung, K.J., Peterson, M. and Behrmann, M. (2008). Reduction in white matter connectivity, revealed by DTI, may account for age-related changes in face perception. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20 (2), 268-284. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., & Skow, E. (2008). Suppression Of Shape Properties On The Ground Side Of An Edge: Evidence For A Competitive Model Of Figure Assignment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34 (2), 251-267. [pdf]
2007
Aviezer, H., Landau, A. N., Robertson, L. C., Peterson, M. A., Soroker, N., Sacher, Y., Bonneh, Y., & Bentin, S. (2007). Implicit integration in a case of integrative visual agnosia. Neuropsychologia, 45 (9), 2066-2077. [pdf]
Gillam, B., Sedgwick, H. A., & Peterson, Mary A. (2007). Introduction: In the Mind’s Eye. In M. A. Peterson, B. Gillam, H. A. Sedgwick (Eds). In the Mind’s Eye: Julian Hochberg’s Contributions to Our Understanding of the Perception of Pictures, Films, and the World. Pp. xv – xxi. NY: Oxford University Press.
Peterson, M. A. (2007). The Piecemeal, Constructive, and Schematic Nature of Perception. In M. A. Peterson, B. Gillam, H. A. Sedgwick (Eds). In the Mind’s Eye: Julian Hochberg’s Contributions to Our Understanding of the Perception of Pictures, Films, and the World. Pp. 419-428. NY: Oxford University Press.
Peterson, M. A., Gillam, B., Sedgwick, H. A. (2007). In the Mind’s Eye: Julian Hochberg’s Contributions to Our Understanding of the Perception of Pictures, Films, and the World. NY: Oxford University Press.
2006
Behrmann, M., Peterson, M. A., Suzuki, S., & Moscovitch, M. (2006). Independent representation of parts and the relations between them: Evidence from integrative agnosia. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32(5), 1169-1184. [pdf]
2005
Burge, J., Peterson, M. A., Palmer, S. E. (2005). Ordinal configural cues combine with metric disparity in depth perception. Journal of Vision, 5(6), 534-542. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (2005). The Piecemeal, Constructive, and Schematic Nature of Perception. In M. A. Peterson, B. Gillam, H. A. Sedgwick (Eds.). Mental Structure in Visual Perception: Julian Hochberg’s Contributions to Our Understanding of the Perception of Pictures, Film, and the World. NY: Oxford University Press.
Peterson, M. A., & Enns, J. T. (2005). The edge complex: Implicit perceptual memory for cross-edge competition leading to figure assignment. Perception & Psychophysics, 14, 727-740. [pdf]
Trujillo, L.T., Peterson, M.A., Kaszniak, A.W., & Allen, J. J. B. (2005). EEG Phase Synchrony: An Investigation of Recording and Analysis Artifacts in the Context of a Visual Cognition Experiment. Clinical Neurophysiology, 116, 172-189. [pdf]
2004
Rauschenberger, R., Peterson, M. A., Mosca, F., & Bruno, N. (2004). Amodal completion in visual search: Preemption or context effects? Psychological Science, 15, 351-355. [pdf]
2003
Peterson, M. A. & Lampignano, D. L. (2003). Implicit memory for novel figure-ground displays includes a history of border competition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29, 808-822. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. & Skow-Grant, E. (2003). Memory and learning in figure-ground perception. In B. Ross & D. Irwin (Eds.) Cognitive Vision: Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 42, 1-34. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., & Rhodes, Gillian (2003). Analytic and holistic processing: The view through different lenses. In M. A. Peterson & G. Rhodes (Eds.), Perception of Faces, Objects, and Scenes: Analytic and Holistic Processes. pp. 3-19. New York: Oxford University Press. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (2003). Overlapping partial configurations in object memory: an alternative solution to classic problems in perception and recognition. In M. A. Peterson & G. Rhodes (Eds.) Perception of Faces, Objects, and Scenes: Analytic and Holistic Processes. pp. 269-294. New York: Oxford University Press. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., & Rhodes, Gillian (2003). Perception of Faces, Objects, and Scenes: Analytic and Holistic Processes. New York: Oxford University Press. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (2003). On figures, grounds, and varieties of amodal surface completion. In R. Kimchi, M. Behrmann, & C. Olson (Eds.) Perceptual Organization in Vision: Behavioral and Neural Perspectives. pp. 87-116. Mahwah, NJ: LEA. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (2003). Vision: Top-down effects. In L. Nadel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, volume 4, pp. 500-504. London: Macmillan.
2001
Gibson, B. S. and Peterson, M. A. (2001). Inattentional blindness and attentional capture: Evidence for attention-based theories of visual salience. In C. L. Folk & B. S. Gibson (Eds.), Attraction, Distraction, and Action: Multiple Perspectives on Attentional Capture. (pp. 51-76) Elsevier Science: Oxford, London. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. & Kim, J. H. (2001). On what is bound in figures and grounds. Visual Cognition. Special Issue: "Neural Binding of Space and Time,"8, 329-348. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. Object perception. (2001). In E. B. Goldstein (Ed.), Blackwell Handbook of Perception, Chapter 6, pp. 168-203. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
2000
Suzuki, S., and Peterson, M. A. (2000). Multiplicative effects of intention on the perception of bistable apparent motion. Psychological Science, 11, 202-209. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., de Gelder, B., Rapcsak, S. Z., Gerhardstein, P. C., and Bachoud-Lévi, A.-C. (2000). Object memory effects on figure assignment: Conscious object recognition is not necessary or sufficient. Vision Research, 40, 1549-1567. [pdf]
1999
Peterson, M. A. (1999). Knowledge and intention can penetrate vision. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 389 - 390. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (1999). High-level vision. In R. A. Wilson, F. C. Keil (Eds.), The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. (pp. 374-377) Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (1999). Organization, Segregation and Object Recognition. Intellectica, 28, 37 - 51. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (1999). What's in a stage name? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25, 276-286. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (1999). Knowledge and intention can penetrate vision. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 389 - 390. [pdf]
1998
Gerhardstein, P. C., Peterson, M. A., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (1998). Age-related hemispheric asymmetries in object discrimination. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 20, 174-185. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., Gerhardstein, P. C., Mennemeier, M., & Rapcsak, S. Z. (1998). Object-centered attentional biases and object recognition contributions to scene segmentation in left- and right-hemisphere-damaged patients. Psychobiology, 26, 557-570. [pdf]
1996
Peterson, M. A., Nadel, L., Bloom, P., and Garrett, M. F. ( 1996). Space and Language. In P. Bloom, M. A. Peterson, L. Nadel, and M. F. Garrett (Eds.), Language and Space. (pp. 553 – 577) Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
Bloom, P., Peterson, M. A., Nadel. L., and Garrett, M. F. (1996). Language and Space. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
1994
Gibson, B. S., and Peterson, M. A. (1994). Does orientation-independent object recognition precede orientation-dependent recognition? Evidence from a cueing paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20, 299-316. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., and Gibson, B. S. (1994). Object recognition contributions to figure-ground organization: Operations on outlines and subjective contours. Perception & Psychophysics, 56, 551-564. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., and Gibson, B. S. (1994). Must figure-ground organization precede object recognition? An assumption in peril. Psychological Science, 5, 253-259. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (1994). The proper placement of uniform connectedness. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 1, 509-514. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (1994). Object recognition processes can and do operate before figure-ground organization. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 3, 105-111. [pdf]
1993
Hochberg, J., and Peterson, M. A. (1993). Mental representations of occluded objects: Sequential disclosure and intentional construal. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 20, 805-820. (Monograph edition published in English in honor of Gaetano Kanizsa.) [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (1993). The ambiguity of mental images: Insights regarding the structure of shape memory and it's function in creativity. In B. Roskos-Ewoldsen, M. J. Intons-Peterson, and R. Anderson (Eds.), Imagery, Creativity, and Discovery: A Cognitive Perspective. (pp. 151 – 185) Amsterdam: North Holland.
Peterson, M. A., and Gibson, B. S. (1993). Shape recognition contributions to figure-ground organization in three-dimensional displays. Cognitive Psychology, 25, 383-429. [pdf]
1992
Shyi, G. C. W., and Peterson, M. A. (1992). Perceptual organization in a brief glance: The effects of figure size, figure location, and the attentional focus. Chinese Journal of Psychology, 34, 1-18. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., Kihlstrom, J. F., Rose, P. M., and Glisky, M. L. (1992). Mental images can be ambiguous: Reconstruals and reference-frame reversals. Memory & Cognition, 20, 107-123. [pdf]
1991
Peterson, M. A., Harvey, E. H., and Weidenbacher, H. L. (1991). Shape recognition inputs to figure-ground organization: Which route counts? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 17, 1075-1089. [pdf]
Schacter, D. L., Cooper, L. A., Delaney, S. M., Peterson, M. A., and Tharan, M. (1991). Implicit memory for possible and impossible objects: Constraints on the construction of structural descriptions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 3-19.
Peterson, M. A., and Gibson, B. S. (1991). The initial identification of figure-ground relationships: Contributions from shape recognition routines. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 29, 199-202. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., and Gibson, B. S. (1991). Directing spatial attention within an object: Altering the functional equivalence of shape descriptions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 17, 170-182. [pdf]
Kihlstrom, J. F., Glisky, M. L., Peterson, M. A., Harvey, E. M., and Rose, P. M. (1991). Vividness and control of mental imagery: A psychometric analysis. Journal of Mental Imagery, 15, 133-142. [pdf]
Pre-1990
Peterson, M. A., and Hochberg, J. (1989). Necessary considerations for a theory of form perception: A theoretical and empirical reply to Boselie and Leeuwenberg, Perception, 18, 105-119. [pdf]
Hochberg, J., and Peterson, M. A. (1989). Pictures in the mind's eye: Images in our perception of world and art. In M. Schuster and B. Woschek (Eds.), Nonverbale Kommunication durch Bilder. (pp. 33 – 51) Stuttgart: Verlag fur Angewandte Psychologie. [pdf]
Johnson, M. K., Peterson, M. A., Chua-Yap, E. and Rose, P. (1989). Frequency judgments: The problem of defining a perceptual event. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 15, 126-136. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., and Shyi, G. C. -W. (1988). The perception of real and illusory concomitant rotation in a three-dimensional cube. Perception & Psychophysics, 44, 31-42. [pdf]
Hochberg, J., and Peterson, M. A. (1987). Piecemeal organization and cognitive components in object perception: Perceptually coupled responses to moving objects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 116, 370-380. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A. (1986). Illusory concomitant motion in ambiguous stereograms: Evidence for nonsensory components in perceptual organization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 12, 50-60. [pdf]
Peterson, M. A., and Hochberg, J. (1983). Opposed-set measurement procedure: A quantitative analysis of the role of local cues and intention in form perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 9, 183-193. [pdf]