OUR RECENT THEORETICAL ANALYSES OF THE ISOTHERMAL DENDRITIC GROWTH EXPERIMENT (IDGE) ARCHIVED IN THE NASA PSI SYSTEM REVEALS THE PRESENCE OF A 4TH-ORDER INTERFACIAL SCALAR FIELD TERMED THE BIAS FIELD THAT WORKS IN THE BACKGROUND AND DYNAMICALLY COUPLES WITH INTERFACE NORMAL MOTION. SOLID-LIQUID INTERFACES SUPPORT SUCH SCALAR PERTURBATION FIELDS BY ADDING OR WITHDRAWING SMALL AMOUNTS OF THERMAL ENERGY. PRELIMINARY INSIGHTS SUGGEST THAT PERTURBATION FIELDS MODULATE INTERFACE MOTION AND CAN STIMULATE PATTERN FORMATION DEPENDING UPON THE INTERFACE'S CURVATURE DISTRIBUTION. HOWEVER OUR CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF THE FACTORS THAT GOVERN THE INTENSITY OF CAPILLARY-MEDIATED FIELDS IS LIMITED TO PURE MELTS AND TO TWO SPATIAL DIMENSIONS. MOREOVER ANY QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE INTENSITY THRESHOLD BEYOND WHICH SUCH CAPILLARY-MEDIATED FIELDS CAN POTENTIALLY MODULATE PATTERN FORMATION IS ALL TOGETHER ABSENT. SURFACE CURVATURE AND CRYSTAL-MELT ANISOTROPY STRONGLY INFLUENCE BIAS FIELDS. MOTIVATED BY OUR RECENT DETECTION OF PERTURBATION FIELDS ON GRAIN BOUNDARY GROOVES (GBGS) WHICH ALSO APPEAR TO EXPLAIN THE ANOMALY REPORTED IN THE USMP-4 DATA THE UNDERLYING HYPOTHESES WHICH WE INTEND TO TEST ARE: (A) WEAK CAPILLARY FIELDS THAT ARE RESIDENT ON SOLID-LIQUID INTERFACES MODULATE THE SHAPES OF MELTING CRYSTALLINE FRAGMENTS AND (B) SHAPE PERTURBATIONS FROM CAPILLARY FIELDS AMPLIFY ON UNSTABLE INTERFACES AND INSTIGATE INSTABILITIES ON INTERFACIAL REGIONS OF EQUILIBRATED GBGS. OUR 3D PHASE-FIELD SIMULATIONS ON GROOVING WILL PROVIDE UNPRECEDENTED INSIGHTS INTO THIS FASCINATING AUTOGENOUS MECHANISM OF PATTERN FORMATION AND MIGHT ALSO ENABLE US TO DEVELOP NOVEL PROCESSING METHODS TO IMPROVE MICROSTRUCTURE-LEVEL CONTROL IN ALLOY CASTINGS. THE ASSOCIATED ISSUE OF COMPARING THE EFFICACY OF NOISE AMPLITUDE TO THE BIAS FIELD INTENSITY-- FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE IN UNDERSTANDING PATTERN FORMATION-- WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED THEORETICALLY AND VIA THE PHASE-FIELD TECHNIQUES.