FIGURE 3.13 Figures Have Shape, but Ground Doesn’t Which shape in (b) can also be found in (a)? The answer is that both shapes are in (a). It’s easy to spot the top shape because it corresponds to one of the shapes perceived as a figure in (a) The bottom shape is harder to find because it is part of the ground or background of the total scene. Because we place more importance on figures, we’re more likely to notice their shape while ignoring the shape of background regions (N. Rubin, 2001).

Source: Information from N. Rubin (2001).