Configural processing of different topologically structured figures: an ERP Study

According to Chen’s theory, topological differences are perceived faster than feature differences in early visual perception. We hypothesized that topological perception is caused by the sensitivity in discriminating figures with and without “holes”. An ERP experiment was conducted utilizing a passive paradigm to investigate the differences in perceiving figures with “hole” and with “no-hole”. The results showed differences in N170 components between figures with “holes” and with “no-holes”. The inversion of the “hole” could influence the latency of N170, but the inversion of the “no-hole” could not, which indicated that global features are processed first in the “hole” perception whilst local features are given priority to the “no-hole” perception. This result was similar to studies concerning face and non-face objects, suggesting a configural processing of the “hole”.