Different trends in perceptual pattern microgenesis as a function of the spatial range of local brightness averaging

Summary Stimulus patterns, quantized into small squares with the brightness level averaged within each square, were presented for recognition with various exposure durations. Qualitatively different recognition functions were obtained with varying spatial levels of quantization. The method used, if further elaborated, seems appropriate for the empirical differentiation between global and local levels of form and between integration and differentiation stages of a perceptual/attentional process.