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Perception Nov 2020Although tension perception is well investigated in the music domain, its determinants in visual displays are still largely unexplored. Furthermore, the distinctive role...
Although tension perception is well investigated in the music domain, its determinants in visual displays are still largely unexplored. Furthermore, the distinctive role of tension and arousal in affect theory is still debated. The study aimed to assess how geometrical and graphical transformations of basic visual shapes can affect perceived tension and arousal. The geometrical transformations were angle amplitude, rotation, position within a frame, symmetry, verticality, angularity, size, and regularity in spacing, while the graphical transformation regarded contrast. The sample included 122 participants. Perceived tension was significantly higher in angles with small amplitude, squares that were slightly rotated and not in the upright position, the upper and right areas within a rectangle, angular shapes, high-contrasted graphical transitions, asymmetrical shapes, vertical shapes, and dot patterns with irregular spacing. Overall, there was a moderate correlation between perception of tension and perception of arousal, although in some specific features, tension exhibited a dissociation from arousal, suggesting a distinctive role of tension in affect theory.
Topics: Arousal; Humans; Mathematics; Photic Stimulation; Rotation
PubMed: 33050823
DOI: 10.1177/0301006620963753 -
Psicologia, Reflexao E Critica :... Nov 2021In this study, we compared visual pictorial size perception between healthy volunteers (CG) and an experimental group (EG) of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. We...
In this study, we compared visual pictorial size perception between healthy volunteers (CG) and an experimental group (EG) of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. We have been using paintings by Salvador Dalí and Rorschach plates to estimate visual pictorial size perception. In this transversal, ex post facto, and quasi-experimental study, we observed differences between EG and CG. Schizophrenic in-patients perceived sizes about 1.3-fold greater than healthy volunteers (p=0.006), implying that pictorial size perception is altered in some way in schizophrenia. Considering the present and previous results, this measurement of diameter size of first pictorial perception may be a useful estimate of some aspects of perceptual alterations that may be associated with psychotic symptoms in prodromal and acute schizophrenic episodes and other related mental states. Eventually, this may help in preventing people from evolving to acute episodes.
PubMed: 34806134
DOI: 10.1186/s41155-021-00201-z -
Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology Jan 2022
Topics: Female; Humans; Hysteroscopes; Hysteroscopy; Perception; Pregnancy
PubMed: 34454066
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmig.2021.08.015 -
Scientific Reports Jan 2022Self-perception of body size seems to be not always in line with clinical definitions of normal weight, overweight and obesity according to Word Health Organization...
Self-perception of body size seems to be not always in line with clinical definitions of normal weight, overweight and obesity according to Word Health Organization classification. The effect of self-perception of body size disturbances and body dissatisfaction may be the development of eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or binge eating disorder-a major risk factor of obesity development. Therefore, the study aimed to assess separately the perception of weight status and body size as well as body dissatisfaction in adults with normal weight, overweight and obesity. The study included 744 adults (452 women; 35.9 ± 12.4 years; 21 underweight, 326 normal weight, 221 overweight, 176 obese) referred to Metabolic Management Center and volunteers. Body size perception and body dissatisfaction were assessed based on Stunkards' Figure Rating Scale (FRS). Additionally, participants' were asked: 'Do you think you are: underweight/normal weight/overweight/obese?' to assess perception of weight status. Participants' weight and height were measured to calculate body mass index (BMI) after completing the FRS. Individuals within the overweight BMI range have rated themselves as underweight (1.4%), normal weight (30.8%) and obese (2.8%). Also individuals within the obesity BMI range have rated themselves as normal weight (2.6%), and overweight (41.6%). Compatibility of self-assessment of weight status with BMI category according to the measured values was moderate-Kappa coefficient was 0.59 (95% CI: 0.54-0.64). Underestimation of weight status was significantly more common among men than women. There were statistically significant differences in the distribution of body dissatisfaction according to the weight in both women and men. Normal-weight subjects less often than overweight and obese were dissatisfied with their own body size. The degree of body dissatisfaction was greater among women than among men. Adults subjects frequently underestimate their own weight status and body size. Women with overweight and obesity more often than men are dissatisfied with their own body size.
Topics: Adult; Body Dissatisfaction; Body Mass Index; Body Size; Body Weight; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Obesity; Overweight; Self Concept; Self-Assessment; Surveys and Questionnaires; Thinness; Young Adult
PubMed: 35087089
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-04706-6 -
I-Perception 2019When a person looks at the fingers of their own hand as they line up in depth, the impression may emerge that the little fingers, which are farther away, are located too...
When a person looks at the fingers of their own hand as they line up in depth, the impression may emerge that the little fingers, which are farther away, are located too far and if so they are not part of the same hand. I describe the conditions and suggest this is due to the size difference between fingers (size-distance scaling). A role of size on perceived distance here is more powerful than knowledge about our own body.
PubMed: 31321017
DOI: 10.1177/2041669519853594 -
Perception May 2022The size-weight illusion is well-known: if two equally heavy objects differ in size, the large one feels lighter than the small one. Most explanations for this illusion...
The size-weight illusion is well-known: if two equally heavy objects differ in size, the large one feels lighter than the small one. Most explanations for this illusion assume that because the information about the relevant attribute (weight itself) is unreliable, information about an irrelevant but correlated attribute (size) is used as well. If such reasoning is correct, one would expect that the illusion can be inverted: if size information is unreliable, weight information will be used to judge size. We explored whether such a weight-size illusion exists by asking participants to lift Styrofoam balls that were coated with glow in the dark paint. The balls (2 sizes, 3 weights) were lifted using a pulley system in complete darkness at 2 distances. Participants reported the size using free magnitude estimation. The visual size information was indeed unreliable: balls that were presented at a 20% larger distance were judged 15% smaller. Nevertheless, the judgments of size were not systematically affected by the 20% weight change (differences < 0.5%). We conclude that because the weight-size illusion does not exist, the mechanism behind the size-weight illusion is specific for judging heaviness.
Topics: Humans; Illusions; Judgment; Motivation; Size Perception; Weight Perception
PubMed: 35354343
DOI: 10.1177/03010066221087404 -
Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive &... Nov 2022Breast cup size is often used in conversations between patients and their surgeons to communicate about goals and expectations for postoperative results. Cup size,...
BACKGROUND
Breast cup size is often used in conversations between patients and their surgeons to communicate about goals and expectations for postoperative results. Cup size, however, is a poorly defined concept. The goal of this study was to assess whether the perception of breast cup size is consistent in a general population of survey respondents.
METHODS
A survey consisting of a demographic questionnaire, personal bra use questionnaire, and 27 de-identified preoperative images of patient's breasts was administered to 500 respondents using the Amazon MTurk platform. Survey respondents were asked to guess the cup size for each of 27 patients.
RESULTS
On average, respondents correctly identified the patient's reported cup size 43.32% of the time. Male and female respondents chose the same cup size for most breast images. Survey respondents who had professional fittings were significantly less likely to accurately identify cup size (38.75% vs. 42.67%, p = 0.02). Those who had a personal history of breast surgery were also less likely to choose correctly (36.92% vs. 43.86%, p < 0.01).
CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that the perception of cup size is broadly similar across a general population sample. However, subgroups who would be expected to have more knowledge about and experience with breast sizing-including women who have had professional bra fittings and women who have had breast surgery-differ significantly in their perception of cup size. This suggests that cup size language should be used with caution in preoperative discussions between patients and their surgeons.
Topics: Female; Humans; Male; Public Opinion; Breast; Surveys and Questionnaires; Language; Breast Neoplasms
PubMed: 36180339
DOI: 10.1016/j.bjps.2022.08.038 -
NeuroImage May 2021Humans and animals rely on accurate object size perception to guide behavior. Object size is judged from visual input, but the relationship between an object's retinal...
Humans and animals rely on accurate object size perception to guide behavior. Object size is judged from visual input, but the relationship between an object's retinal size and its real-world size varies with distance. Humans perceive object sizes to be relatively constant when retinal size changes. Such size constancy compensates for the variable relationship between retinal size and real-world size, using the context of recent retinal sizes of the same object to bias perception towards its likely real-world size. We therefore hypothesized that object size perception may be affected by the range of recently viewed object sizes, attracting perceived object sizes towards recently viewed sizes. We demonstrate two systematic biases: a central tendency attracting perceived size towards the average size across all trials, and a serial dependence attracting perceived size towards the size presented on the previous trial. We recently described topographic object size maps in the human parietal cortex. We therefore hypothesized that neural representations of object size here would be attracted towards recently viewed sizes. We used ultra-high-field (7T) functional MRI and population receptive field modeling to compare object size representations measured with small (0.05-1.4°diameter) and large objects sizes (0.1-2.8°). We found that parietal object size preferences and tuning widths follow this presented range, but change less than presented object sizes. Therefore, perception and neural representation of object size are attracted towards recently viewed sizes. This context-dependent object size representation reveals effects on neural response preferences that may underlie context dependence of object size perception.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Parietal Lobe; Photic Stimulation; Psychophysics; Size Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 33652148
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117909 -
Appetite Feb 2022Visual perception of food size and shape in anorexia nervosa (AN) is an understudied topic, notwithstanding its relevance in approaching food, key-element in weight...
Visual perception of food size and shape in anorexia nervosa (AN) is an understudied topic, notwithstanding its relevance in approaching food, key-element in weight restoration. In addition, it is unclear how visual perception in AN is related to the age and the duration of illness. Here, we compared patients with AN to healthy controls (HCs) on their spatial resolution, biases in perceived food size, and holistic processing of food shape. A total of 122 participants were enrolled: 48 adolescents (27 AN and 21 HCs) and 74 adults (33 AN and 41 HCs). Participants at two academic sites (Israel and Italy) completed measures of psychopathology and experiments measuring visual resolution (Just Noticeable Difference), biases in food-size perception (Points of Subjective Equality), and holistic processing of food shape (indicated by the height-width illusion). Adolescents and adults with AN differed in the duration of illness and body mass index but showed comparable eating psychopathology and body measures. Patients with AN showed preserved visual resolution but distorted perception of food size, perceiving food as bigger than non-food objects, in both age groups. Patients with AN, both adolescents and adults, also processed food stimuli in a more analytic fashion, and were immune to the height-width illusion. The preserved perception of non-food stimuli in AN coupled with biases in food-size perception and in analytic processing of food shape highlight patients' real-world difficulties in approaching food. Future treatments on AN may consider taking these differences into account.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Anorexia Nervosa; Food; Humans; Illusions; Size Perception; Visual Perception
PubMed: 34896387
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105858 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Jan 2023The promise of virtual reality (VR) as a tool for perceptual and cognitive research rests on the assumption that perception in virtual environments generalizes to the...
The promise of virtual reality (VR) as a tool for perceptual and cognitive research rests on the assumption that perception in virtual environments generalizes to the real world. Here, we conducted two experiments to compare size and distance perception between VR and physical reality (Maltz . 2021 , 1-18). In experiment 1, we used VR to present dice and Rubik's cubes at their typical sizes or reversed sizes at distances that maintained a constant visual angle. After viewing the stimuli binocularly (to provide vergence and disparity information) or monocularly, participants manually estimated perceived size and distance. Unlike physical reality, where participants relied less on familiar size and more on presented size during binocular versus monocular viewing, in VR participants relied heavily on familiar size regardless of the availability of binocular cues. In experiment 2, we demonstrated that the effects in VR generalized to other stimuli and to a higher quality VR headset. These results suggest that the use of binocular cues and familiar size differs substantially between virtual and physical reality. A deeper understanding of perceptual differences is necessary before assuming that research outcomes from VR will generalize to the real world. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'New approaches to 3D vision'.
Topics: Humans; Virtual Reality; Distance Perception; Cues; Depth Perception; Vision, Binocular
PubMed: 36511414
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0464