At the Semantic level, we have the "I know what it is feeling," and we are usually right, but it is still a guess.

• 4. The Semantic Level: This is the level at which the stimulus is optimally available for decoding. It is exposed long enough, and it is strong enough. We usually have an immediate "I know what it is," feeling.

  • What we must realize, however, is that perception is still only a guess, and hence is not tantamount to realty. Although it is infrequent, the guess can still be wrong. Psychologists love to have unwitting subjects peer into the end of a box where they see the replica of a chair.

  • When they look in from the top, however, they realize that it is just a configuration of disjointed sticks.

  • There are three types of figure-ground tasks: Masked Figures; Embedded Figures; and Reversible Figures.

  • 1. Masked Figures: The most famous Masked Figure, of course, was the Lone Ranger. He would wear a mask and no one would recognize him, until of course, he got on TV. On the radio it seemed to work fine.

  NOTES: Just an interesting site on Clayton Moore, TV's Masked man. Actually I only heard the Masked man on radio and never did see him, but I would have recognized that voice anywhere. Of course, that wasn't Clayton Moore. At my age, my wife says it could have been the real Lone Ranger.

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