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Practicing artists, art students, and non artists were asked to respond to six different two-dimensional infinite patterns which they viewed via a new methodology that presents the stimuli as iterating dots on a computer screen. As evidenced in the drawings they made, most viewers searched for shapes with clearly defined edges in the "negative" background space, rather than for shapes as defined by clusters of dots. The process of shape definition using the figure/ground distinction and the issue that past experience influences our perceptions are discussed.

This paper is a test of the use of symmetry analysis of basket design to measure interaction among northern and central California Indian cultures. Although long-distance trade networks and casual exchanges at ceremonies have long been known as vehicles for cultural interchange, anthropologists have not systematically used criteria other than language for studying affiliations. Differences in language classically have been used to define tribal entities, but the subsequent consideration of other cultural information within these linguistic units has masked the fact that much information and actual interaction crosses these "unintelligible" boundaries.

A study of the clothing choices of Southern Lao women residing in Rochester, New York reveals that they identify clothing with social status, cultural ethnicity, wealth, age, and occupation. Women with detailed knowledge of the techniques of cloth production, such as weavers, identify and sort clothes according to their weaving techniques while non-weavers sort them according to the material and price. However, all Southern Lao women categorize clothes according to their social and cultural affinities and generally disregard patterns and design while making clothing choices.