Anya Hurlbert and Matt Ridley. [interview].
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Biomedical subjects
Anya Hurlbert
Publications and source records attributed to Anya Hurlbert.
Color and size interactions in a real 3D object similarity task.
In the natural world, objects are characterized by a variety of attributes, including color and shape. The contributions of these two attributes to object recognition are typically studied independently of each other, yet they are likely to interact in natural tasks. Here we examine whether color and size (a component of shape) interact in a real three-dimensional (3D) object similarity task, using solid domelike objects whose distinct apparent surface colors are independently controlled via spatially restricted illumination from a data projector hidden to the observer. The novel experimental setup preserves natural cues to 3D shape from shading, binocular disparity, motion parallax, and surface texture cues, while also providing the flexibility and ease of computer control. Observers performed three distinct tasks: two unimodal discrimination tasks, and an object similarity task. Depending on the task, the observer was instructed to select the indicated alternative object which was "bigger than," "the same color as," or "most similar to" the designated reference object, all of which varied in both size and color between trials. For both unimodal discrimination tasks, discrimination thresholds for the tested attribute (e.g., color) were increased by differences in the secondary attribute (e.g., size), although this effect was more robust in the color task. For the unimodal size-discrimination task, the strongest effects of the secondary attribute (color) occurred as a perceptual bias, which we call the "saturation-size effect": Objects with more saturated colors appear larger than objects with less saturated colors. In the object similarity task, discrimination thresholds for color or size differences were significantly larger than in the unimodal discrimination tasks. We conclude that color and size interact in determining object similarity, and are effectively analyzed on a coarser scale, due to noise in the similarity estimates of the individual attributes, inter-attribute attentional interactions, or coarser coding of attributes at a "higher" level of object representation.
Adult↗
Color contrast: a contributory mechanism to color constancy.
Color constancy--by which objects tend to appear the same color under changes in illumination--is most likely achieved by several mechanisms, operating at different levels in the visual system. One powerful contributory mechanism is simultaneous spatial color contrast. Under changes in natural illumination the spatial ratios of within-type cone excitations between natural surfaces tend to be preserved (Foster and Nascimento, 1994); therefore, the neural encoding of colors as spatial contrasts tends to achieve constancy. Several factors are known to influence the strength of chromatic contrast induction between surfaces, including their relative luminance, spatial scale, spatial configuration and context (Ware and Cowan, 1982; Zaidi et al., 1991). Here we test the hypothesis that color contrast is weakened by differences between surfaces which indicate that they may be under distinct illuminants. We summarize psychophysical measurements of the effects of relative motion, relative depth and texture differences on chromatic contrast induction. Of these factors, only texture differences between surfaces weaken chromatic contrast induction. We also consider neurophysiological and neuropsychological evidence and conclude that the mechanisms which mediate local chromatic contrast effects are sited at low levels in the visual system, in primary visual cortex (V1) or below, prior to image segmentation mechanisms which require computation of relative depth or motion. V1 and lower areas may therefore play a larger role in color constancy than previously thought.
Animals↗
Colour vision: primary visual cortex shows its influence.
New results have revealed that neurons in visual area V1 are influenced by chromatic context, in a way consistent with colour constancy. Other studies have mapped the internal cone-input structure of V1 receptive fields. Put together, these findings suggest important dual roles for V1 in colour perception.
Animals↗