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Experimental Brain Research May 2008This review examines the isotropy of the perception of spatial orientations in the haptic system. It shows the existence of an oblique effect (i.e., a better perception... (Review)
Review
This review examines the isotropy of the perception of spatial orientations in the haptic system. It shows the existence of an oblique effect (i.e., a better perception of vertical and horizontal orientations than oblique orientations) in a spatial plane intrinsic to the haptic system, determined by the gravitational cues and the cognitive resources and defined in a subjective frame of reference. Similar results are observed from infancy to adulthood. In 3D space, the haptic processing of orientations is also anisotropic and seems to use both egocentric and allocentric cues. Taken together, these results revealed that the haptic oblique effect occurs when the sensory motor traces associated with exploratory movement are represented more abstractly at a cognitive level.
Topics: Cues; Gravitation; Humans; Orientation; Psychophysics; Space Perception; Touch
PubMed: 18446332
DOI: 10.1007/s00221-008-1382-0 -
Cognition Sep 2017The ability to estimate distance and time to spatial goals is fundamental for survival. In cases where a region of space must be navigated around to reach a location...
The ability to estimate distance and time to spatial goals is fundamental for survival. In cases where a region of space must be navigated around to reach a location (circumnavigation), the distance along the path is greater than the straight-line Euclidean distance. To explore how such circumnavigation impacts on estimates of distance and time, we tested participants on their ability to estimate travel time and Euclidean distance to learned destinations in a virtual town. Estimates for approximately linear routes were compared with estimates for routes requiring circumnavigation. For all routes, travel times were significantly underestimated, and Euclidean distances overestimated. For routes requiring circumnavigation, travel time was further underestimated and the Euclidean distance further overestimated. Thus, circumnavigation appears to enhance existing biases in representations of travel time and distance.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Distance Perception; Female; Humans; Judgment; Male; Memory; Space Perception; Spatial Navigation; Time Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 28624709
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.06.004 -
Journal of Vision Jun 2012We developed a global orientation coherence task for the assessment of global form processing along similar lines to the global motion coherence task. The task involved...
We developed a global orientation coherence task for the assessment of global form processing along similar lines to the global motion coherence task. The task involved judgments of global orientation for an array of limited duration 1-D Gabors, some of which were signal (signal orientation) and some of which were noise (random orientation). We address two issues. First: Do motion and form global processing have similar dependencies? And second: Can global sensitivity be explained solely in terms of integrative function? While most dependencies (e.g., contrast, spatial scale, and field size) are similar for form and motion processing, there is a greater dependence on eccentricity for form processing. Sensitivity for global tasks involves more than just integration by filters broadly tuned for orientation. Results are best modeled by filters with narrowband orientation tuning that effectively segregate as well as integrate global information.
Topics: Artifacts; Contrast Sensitivity; Fixation, Ocular; Form Perception; Humans; Models, Neurological; Motion Perception; Orientation; Photic Stimulation; Sensory Thresholds; Space Perception
PubMed: 22693336
DOI: 10.1167/12.6.18 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Feb 2011Perceptual phenomena that occur around the time of a saccade, such as peri-saccadic mislocalization or saccadic suppression of displacement, have often been linked to... (Review)
Review
Perceptual phenomena that occur around the time of a saccade, such as peri-saccadic mislocalization or saccadic suppression of displacement, have often been linked to mechanisms of spatial stability. These phenomena are usually regarded as errors in processes of trans-saccadic spatial transformations and they provide important tools to study these processes. However, a true understanding of the underlying brain processes that participate in the preparation for a saccade and in the transfer of information across it requires a closer, more quantitative approach that links different perceptual phenomena with each other and with the functional requirements of ensuring spatial stability. We review a number of computational models of peri-saccadic spatial perception that provide steps in that direction. Although most models are concerned with only specific phenomena, some generalization and interconnection between them can be obtained from a comparison. Our analysis shows how different perceptual effects can coherently be brought together and linked back to neuronal mechanisms on the way to explaining vision across saccades.
Topics: Humans; Models, Neurological; Photic Stimulation; Saccades; Space Perception; Visual Perception
PubMed: 21242143
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0229 -
CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association... Aug 2008
Topics: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Humans; Phobic Disorders; Space Perception; User-Computer Interface
PubMed: 18725608
DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.081119 -
Journal of Vision Sep 2011Blur is an important attribute of human spatial vision, and sensitivity to blur has been the subject of considerable experimental research and theoretical modeling.... (Review)
Review
Blur is an important attribute of human spatial vision, and sensitivity to blur has been the subject of considerable experimental research and theoretical modeling. Often, these models have invoked specialized concepts or mechanisms, such as intrinsic blur, multiple spatial frequency channels, or blur estimation units. In this paper, we review the several experimental studies of blur discrimination and find that they are in broad empirical agreement. However, contrary to previous modeling efforts, we find that specialized mechanisms are not required and that the essential features of blur discrimination are fully accounted for by a visible contrast energy (ViCE) model, in which two spatial patterns are distinguished when the integrated difference between their masked local visible contrast energy responses reaches a threshold value. In the ViCE model, intrinsic blur is represented by the high-frequency limb of the contrast sensitivity function, but the low-frequency limb also contributes to the predictions for large reference blurs, and the model includes masking, which improves predictions for high-contrast stimuli.
Topics: Contrast Sensitivity; Humans; Models, Neurological; Perceptual Masking; Sensory Thresholds; Space Perception
PubMed: 21931120
DOI: 10.1167/11.5.10 -
Physiological Research 2014Spatial navigation and memory is considered to be a part of the declarative memory system and it is widely used as an animal model of human declarative memory. However,... (Review)
Review
Spatial navigation and memory is considered to be a part of the declarative memory system and it is widely used as an animal model of human declarative memory. However, spatial tests typically involve only static settings, despite the dynamic nature of the real world. Animals, as well as people constantly need to interact with moving objects, other subjects or even with entire moving environments (flowing water, running stairway). Therefore, we design novel spatial tests in dynamic environments to study brain mechanisms of spatial processing in more natural settings with an interdisciplinary approach including neuropharmacology. We also translate data from neuropharmacological studies and animal models into development of novel therapeutic approaches to neuropsychiatric disorders and more sensitive screening tests for impairments of memory, thought, and behavior.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Central Nervous System Agents; Drug Design; Humans; Maze Learning; Memory; Space Perception; Spatial Behavior
PubMed: 24564663
DOI: 10.33549/physiolres.932660 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Apr 2022Recent work has shown that number concepts activate both spatial and magnitude representations. According to the social co-representation literature which has shown that...
Recent work has shown that number concepts activate both spatial and magnitude representations. According to the social co-representation literature which has shown that participants typically represent task components assigned to others together with their own, we asked whether explicit magnitude meaning and explicit spatial coding must be present in a single mind, or can be distributed across two minds, to generate a spatial-numerical congruency effect. In a shared go/no-go task that eliminated peripheral spatial codes, we assigned explicit magnitude processing to participants and spatial processing to either human or non-human co-agents. The spatial-numerical congruency effect emerged only with human co-agents. We demonstrate an inter-personal level of conceptual congruency between space and number that arises from a shared conceptual representation not contaminated by peripheral spatial codes. Theoretical implications of this finding for numerical cognition are discussed.
Topics: Cognition; Humans; Reaction Time; Space Perception; Spatial Processing
PubMed: 34816389
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-02013-9 -
Memory & Cognition Jul 2013Research investigating how people remember the distance of paths they walk has shown two apparently conflicting effects of experience during encoding on subsequent...
Research investigating how people remember the distance of paths they walk has shown two apparently conflicting effects of experience during encoding on subsequent distance judgments. By the feature accumulation effect, discrete path features such as turns, houses, or other landmarks cause an increase in remembered distance. By the distractor effect, performance of a concurrent task during path encoding causes a decrease in remembered distance. In this study, we ask the following: What are the conditions that determine whether the feature accumulation or the distractor effect dominates distortions of space? In two experiments, blindfolded participants were guided along two legs of a right triangle while reciting nonsense syllables. On some trials, one of the two legs contained features: horizontally mounted car antennas (gates) that bent out of the way as participants walked past. At the end of the second leg, participants either indicated the remembered path leg lengths using their hands in a ratio estimation task or attempted to walk, unguided, straight back to the beginning. In addition to response mode, visual access to the paths and time between encoding and response were manipulated to determine whether these factors would affect feature accumulation or distractor effects. Path legs with added features were remembered as shorter than those without, but this result was significant only in the haptic response mode data. This finding suggests that when people form spatial memory representations with the intention of navigating in room-scale spaces, interfering with information accumulation substantially distorts spatial memory.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Attention; Distance Perception; Female; Humans; Male; Memory; Space Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 23430763
DOI: 10.3758/s13421-013-0303-z -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Aug 1997The central problems of vision are often divided into object identification and localization. Object identification, at least at fine levels of discrimination, may... (Review)
Review
The central problems of vision are often divided into object identification and localization. Object identification, at least at fine levels of discrimination, may require the application of top-down knowledge to resolve ambiguous image information. Utilizing top-down knowledge, however, may require the initial rapid access of abstract object categories based on low-level image cues. Does object localization require a different set of operating principles than object identification or is category determination also part of the perception of depth and spatial layout? Three-dimensional graphics movies of objects and their cast shadows are used to argue that identifying perceptual categories is important for determining the relative depths of objects. Processes that can identify the causal class (e.g. the kind of material) that generates the image data can provide information to determine the spatial relationships between surfaces. Changes in the blurriness of an edge may be characteristically associated with shadows caused by relative motion between two surfaces. The early identification of abstract events such as moving object/shadow pairs may also be important for depth from shadows. Knowledge of how correlated motion in the image relates to an object and its shadow may provide a reliable cue to access such event categories.
Topics: Depth Perception; Humans; Space Perception
PubMed: 9304683
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.1997.0099