figure-ground organization

n. The aspect of perception in which part of the perceptual field stands out distinctly while the rest is perceived as somewhat vague and homogeneous. In visual perception, the figure is seen in front of the ground, and the border between figure and ground is seen as part of the figure, although it is physically neither figure nor ground. The figure-ground organization is an emergent property of the relationship between the perceptual system and the stimulus, as can be seen from the capacity to change focus so that different parts of a perceptual field can be perceived as figure as well as the fact that some parts of a stimulus are easier to focus on than are others.