Law of figure-ground perception

This law states that we are able to differentiate figures from their backgrounds.  This can be differentiated based on many variables such as contrast, color, size, and texture.  Everything that isn’t the figure is background, and this changes as our attention changes.  Figure-ground perception is not limited to sight; it can also be used to differentiate voices from a crowd, and smells in a bouquet of smells.  In the picture, you can se the face of a woman or a man playing an instrument.  Which image you see depends on what you identify as the figure and the background.