Processing context: Asymmetric interference of visual form and texture in object and scene interactions

•We find asymmetric interference of visual features in object and scene interactions.•Object-scene context may not depend exclusively on high-level information.•Lower-level visual features may differentially influence object-scene relations.

Substantive evidence has demonstrated that scene-centered global image features influence the processing of objects embedded in complex visual scenes. Conversely, a growing body of work suggests that relevant object information may inherently influence diagnostic global scene statistics used in rapid scene categorization. Here, we investigate the potential effects of interference in object-scene perception when attending to form and texture in both simple figure-ground representations and more complex object-background scenes. Results reveal asymmetric interference in the perception of form and texture in object and scene processing: Inconsistent scene texture interfered with the classification of object texture, and inconsistent object form interfered with the classification of scene form, but not vice versa. These findings contribute to our understanding of the interactions between an object and its environment, and further inform our knowledge of the visual features which influence interactivity in object and scene perception.