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Annual Review of Psychology 1981
Review
Topics: Animals; Depth Perception; Form Perception; Humans; Models, Neurological; Motion Perception; Sensory Thresholds; Visual Perception
PubMed: 7015998
DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ps.32.020181.003043 -
Current Biology : CB Mar 2022Recent research has uncovered a surprising new role of colour in the perception of three-dimensional shape. The brain is exquisitely sensitive to visual patterns...
Recent research has uncovered a surprising new role of colour in the perception of three-dimensional shape. The brain is exquisitely sensitive to visual patterns emerging from the way different wavelengths interact with surfaces.
Topics: Brain; Color Perception; Visual Perception
PubMed: 35349812
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.077 -
Topics in Cognitive Science Jan 2024Many cultures share common constellations and common narratives about the stars in the night sky. Previous research has shown that this overlap in asterisms, minimal...
Many cultures share common constellations and common narratives about the stars in the night sky. Previous research has shown that this overlap in asterisms, minimal star groupings inside constellations, is clearly present across 27 distinct culture groups and can be explained in part by properties of individual stars (brightness) and properties of pairs of stars (proximity) (Kemp, Hamacher, Little, & Cropper, 2022). The same work, however, found no evidence that properties of triples (angle) and quadruples (good continuation) predicted constellation formation. We developed a behavioral experiment to explore how individuals form constellations under conditions that reduce cultural learning. We found that participants independently selected and connected similar stars, and that their responses were predicted by two properties of triples (angle and even spacing) in addition to the properties of brightness and proximity supported by previous work. Our findings lend further evidence to the theory that commonality of constellations across cultures is not a result of shared human history but rather stems from shared human nature.
Topics: Humans; Visual Perception; Learning; Pattern Recognition, Visual
PubMed: 38175948
DOI: 10.1111/tops.12720 -
Consciousness and Cognition Aug 2019Although at first glance the way we perceive the world is similar for most individuals and resembles a veridical interpretation of the environment, the persistent... (Review)
Review
Although at first glance the way we perceive the world is similar for most individuals and resembles a veridical interpretation of the environment, the persistent individual differences found in many perceptual processes continue to inspire and confuse researchers. Despite numerous attempts to map out the reliable factors and correlates of individual variance in perception, the factorial structure of vision has remained elusive. The current article reviews recent developments in the study of individual differences in perception with a focus on work that has applied latent variable techniques for analysing performance across multiple visual paradigms. As this overview reveals, studies that have attempted to answer the question whether one general or several specific factors best describe vision tend to reject the monolithic view. Some general notes are also provided regarding pitfalls that should be taken into account when designing such research in the future.
Topics: Humans; Individuality; Visual Perception
PubMed: 31176848
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102762 -
Journal of Vision Dec 2023Gestalten in visual perception are defined by emergent properties of the whole, which cannot be predicted from the sum of its parts; rather, they arise by virtue of... (Review)
Review
Gestalten in visual perception are defined by emergent properties of the whole, which cannot be predicted from the sum of its parts; rather, they arise by virtue of inherent principles, the Laws of Seeing. This review attempts to assign neurophysiological correlates to select emergent properties in motion and contour perception and proposes parallels to the processing of local versus global attributes by classical versus contextual receptive fields. The aim is to identify Gestalt neurons in the visual system to account for the Laws of Seeing in causal terms and to explain "Why do things look as they do" (Koffka, 1935, p. 76).
Topics: Humans; Visual Perception; Neurons; Form Perception; Motion Perception
PubMed: 38091030
DOI: 10.1167/jov.23.14.4 -
Current Biology : CB Jun 2017How does our brain use differences between the images in our two eyes, binocular disparities, to generate depth perception? New work shows that a type of neural network...
How does our brain use differences between the images in our two eyes, binocular disparities, to generate depth perception? New work shows that a type of neural network trained on natural binocular images can learn parameters that match key properties of visual cortex. Most information is conveyed by cells which sense differences between the two eyes' images.
Topics: Depth Perception; Vision Disparity; Vision, Binocular; Visual Cortex; Visual Perception
PubMed: 28633028
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.05.013 -
NeuroImage Oct 2022Research on face perception has revealed highly specialized visual mechanisms such as configural processing, and provided markers of interindividual differences...
Research on face perception has revealed highly specialized visual mechanisms such as configural processing, and provided markers of interindividual differences -including disease risks and alterations- in visuo-perceptual abilities that traffic in social cognition. Is face perception unique in degree or kind of mechanisms, and in its relevance for social cognition? Combining functional MRI and behavioral methods, we address the processing of an uncharted class of socially relevant stimuli: minimal social scenes involving configurations of two bodies spatially close and face-to-face as if interacting (hereafter, facing dyads). We report category-specific activity for facing (vs. non-facing) dyads in visual cortex. That activity shows face-like signatures of configural processing -i.e., stronger response to facing (vs. non-facing) dyads, and greater susceptibility to stimulus inversion for facing (vs. non-facing) dyads-, and is predicted by performance-based measures of configural processing in visual perception of body dyads. Moreover, we observe that the individual performance in body-dyad perception is reliable, stable-over-time and correlated with the individual social sensitivity, coarsely captured by the Autism-Spectrum Quotient. Further analyses clarify the relationship between single-body and body-dyad perception. We propose that facing dyads are processed through highly specialized mechanisms -and brain areas-, analogously to other biologically and socially relevant stimuli such as faces. Like face perception, facing-dyad perception can reveal basic (visual) processes that lay the foundations for understanding others, their relationships and interactions.
Topics: Brain; Facial Recognition; Humans; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Social Perception; Visual Cortex; Visual Perception
PubMed: 35878724
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119506 -
Medical Hypotheses Jun 1991Based on the results of after-image experiments, it can be concluded that the retinal perception of image position is linked to head position information, since this...
Based on the results of after-image experiments, it can be concluded that the retinal perception of image position is linked to head position information, since this affects after-image positioning. Why actual perception of object position is not affected is hypothesised as a resetting of the retinal horizon, from information received on head position. Tilting of the after-image is thus explained as superimposition of the former image on a reset (tilted) horizon (axis).
Topics: Afterimage; Humans; Models, Biological; Posture; Retina; Visual Perception
PubMed: 1890973
DOI: 10.1016/0306-9877(91)90039-2 -
Annual Review of Psychology 2008The environments in which we live and the tasks we must perform to survive and reproduce have shaped the design of our perceptual systems through evolution and... (Review)
Review
The environments in which we live and the tasks we must perform to survive and reproduce have shaped the design of our perceptual systems through evolution and experience. Therefore, direct measurement of the statistical regularities in natural environments (scenes) has great potential value for advancing our understanding of visual perception. This review begins with a general discussion of the natural scene statistics approach, of the different kinds of statistics that can be measured, and of some existing measurement techniques. This is followed by a summary of the natural scene statistics measured over the past 20 years. Finally, there is a summary of the hypotheses, models, and experiments that have emerged from the analysis of natural scene statistics.
Topics: Bayes Theorem; Color Perception; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Eye Movements; Humans; Motion Perception; Space Perception; Visual Perception
PubMed: 17705683
DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085632 -
Current Biology : CB May 1999We appear to be unaware of large changes in our visual scene if our attention is temporarily diverted. This suggests that the rich, complete visual scene that we appear... (Review)
Review
We appear to be unaware of large changes in our visual scene if our attention is temporarily diverted. This suggests that the rich, complete visual scene that we appear to have may be just an illusion.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Ocular Physiological Phenomena; Visual Perception
PubMed: 10330370
DOI: 10.1016/s0960-9822(99)80207-3