Effects of luminance contrast and temporal factors upon a figural retroactive-effect

Abstract

Abstract An experiment was designed to investigate the concentric circles figural retroactiveeffect, which differs from the corresponding figural aftereffect in that the order of presentation of the inducing and test figures is reversed. 2 conditions of luminance contrast of the stimulus components with the background were used in conjunction with 2 inducing figure exposure times and 3 conditions of test figure presentation. The 60 Ss in the experiment were replicated over inducing figure exposure time. For 2 conditions, in which the low contrast inducing figure and high contrast test figure were used, it was found that the apparent displacement of the test figure was towards, rather than away from, the inducing figure. These attraction effects showed that the figural retroactive-effect and figural aftereffect may be in opposite directions, and suggested a need for the modification of current theories of apparent displacement which seek only to explain a repulsion of the test figure away from the inducing...