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Perceptual completion of surfaces in infancy.

Two experiments provide evidence that 4-month-old infants perceive background surfaces as continuous behind occluding objects. Infants were shown a partly hidden background surface either for a brief period of familiarization (Experiment 1) or until they met a criterion of habituation (Experiment 2). The infants were then tested with nonoccluded surfaces that were either continuous or interrupted by a gap where the occluder had been. The infants in each study looked longer at the interrupted than at the continuous surface, relative to infants in baseline controls, which suggests that the partly hidden surface was perceived as continuous. Contrasting findings were obtained in a third experiment, in which infants were habituated to a partly hidden surface that stood in front of a background so that its edges were visible: Infants gave no evidence of perceiving the foreground surface as continuous behind the occluder. These experiments provide evidence that infants perceive a surface as continuous only if it serves as the background of a scene. The results are discussed in relation to figure-ground perception in pictures and surface layouts.

Female↗

Divided attention: the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

A divided attention situation is more than the sum of its component single tasks. Emergent aspects of the whole situation must also be considered. Three examples illustrate this. (a) When several complex stimuli (e.g., letters) are identified at once, their perceived components or features must be appropriately bundled together. Otherwise, components of two different stimuli may appear combined. This (emergent) problem is shown to depend on attention to multiple stimuli, not simply their presentation. (b) In the psychological refractory period (PRP) situation, especial difficulties arise when stimulus-response mappings are different for first and second reactions. It appears that for each reaction there is some (emergent) uncertainty over which mapping to use. This is only one of many possible emergent processes in the PRP situation. (c) When the two hands perform different actions (internally programmed sequences of taps), there is some tendency for each hand to carry out the action assigned to the other. This again is only a small part of the (emergent) problem of motor coordination. Thus the simple idea of competition for limited resources captures only a part of the problem of divided attention. Performance under divided attention will reflect an interaction between resource limitation, single task processes, and emergent aspects of the whole situation.

Adult↗

Perceiving virtual geographical slant: action influences perception.

In 4 experiments, the authors varied the extent and nature of participant movement in a virtual environment to examine the influence of action on estimates of geographical slant. Previous studies showed that people consciously overestimate hill slant but can still accurately guide an action toward the hill (D. R. Proffitt, M. Bhalla, R. Gossweiler, & J. Midgett, 1995). Related studies suggest that one's potential to act may influence perception of slant and that distinct representations may independently inform perceptual and motoric responses. The authors found that in all conditions, perceptual judgments were overestimated and motoric adjustments were more accurate. The virtual environment allowed manipulation of the effort required to walk up simulated hills. Walking with the effort appropriate to the visual slant led to increased perceptual overestimation of slant compared with active walking with the effort appropriate to level ground, while visually guided actions remained accurate.

Adolescent↗

Structural information processing in peripheral vision.

Structural visual information processing was investigated in peripheral vision. Perceptual completion, as observed at the blind spot, occurred across a vertical blank stripe in a test pattern, presented in the peripheral visual field. That is, a shape, organized by structural processing, was perceived under critical visual conditions when it was presented in peripheral vision. The results indicate that structural processing, as indicated by perceptual completion, occurs in the peripheral visual information handling process. The results suggest that structural processing of shape information is built into the peripheral visual system and reduces the information load on the higher visual processes under conditions in which visual information is not adequate.

Adult↗

Convergent and divergent perspective.

Use of divergent (or inverse) perspective in pictures is often regarded as arbitrary or even as erroneous in spite of the fact that entire schools of art exist in which this kind of perspective is regularly used. An experiment is reported which shows that a significant trend towards divergent perspective is experienced by subjects viewing laterally displaced three-dimensional arrays. Centrally viewed arrays show the expected perceptual convergence. It is therefore argued that divergent perspective, under appropriate conditions, is as perceptually legitimate an experience as convergent perspective.

Adult↗

Amodal completion and vernier acuity: evidence of 'top-but-not-very-far-down' processes?

Vernier thresholds were measured by means of a forced-choice paradigm for physically separated bars that were perceived either as separate or as amodally completed behind an occluder. The finding that thresholds were not reduced (improved) with amodal completion argues against an early neural code for amodal completion that is equivalent to physical completion of the vernier bars (ie neural propagation/interpolation) and limits the stage at which amodal representations could arise via bottom-up processes to neural sites located centrally with respect to those involved in position coding. An alternative explanation is also considered, that this result reflects the activity of top-down processes that mediate amodal completion by imposing grouping/organizational constraints upon earlier representations of position. In support of this proposition it was found that when tested by means of a non-forced-choice paradigm without feedback, observers demonstrated a reduced tendency to report the presence of a vernier offset when the bars were perceived as amodally completed (ie a shift in response bias occurred). This separability of vernier acuity and response bias suggests the existence of 'top-but-not-very-far-down' grouping processes whose influence does not extend to early representations of relative position.

Analysis of Variance↗

Representation of regular and irregular shapes in macaque inferotemporal cortex.

We determined the degree to which the response modulation of macaque inferior temporal (IT) neurons corresponds to perceptual versus physical shape similarities. IT neurons were tested with four groups of shapes. One group consisted of variations of simple, symmetrical (i.e. regular) shapes that differed in nonaccidental properties (NAPs, i.e. viewpoint-invariant), such as curved versus straight contours. The second and third groups were composed of, respectively, simple and complex asymmetrical (i.e. irregular) shapes, all with curved contours. A fourth group consisted of simple, asymmetrical shapes, but with straight (corners) instead of curved contours. The neural modulations were greater for the shapes differing in NAPs than for the shapes differing in the configuration of the convexities and concavities. Multidimensional scaling showed that a population code of the neural activity could readily distinguish the four shape groups. This pattern of neural modulation was strongly manifested in the results of a sorting task by human subjects but could not be predicted using current image-based models (i.e. pixel energies, V1-like Gabor-jet filtering and HMAX). The representation of shape in IT thus exceeds a mere faithful representation of physical reality, by emphasizing perceptually salient features relevant for essential categorizations.

Algorithms↗

Action planning in young children's tool use.

Tool use consists of at least two coupled phases of activities, involving multi-step problem solving. It therefore provides an interesting window on the development of planning in goal-directed behavior. This study investigated 2-year-olds' and 3-year-olds' hand use in picking up and subsequently using a tool for displacing a target-object towards a specified goal location. The children had to use a stick (Experiment 1; N = 41 in total) or a cane (hooked stick) that was lying in varying starting orientations (Experiment 2; N = 32 in total). Age differences were found in the way goal-related information in combination with tool-related information influenced the choice of which hand to use in different phases of the task. A view on action planning is developed as a dynamic action-selection process for which actions to take. This process integrates factors that are internal to the child's action system (e.g. motor preferences and dexterity) with external (i.e. sensory) sources of information.

Child↗

Parietal contributions to visual feature binding: evidence from a patient with bilateral lesions.

Neurophysiologists have documented the existence of multiple cortical areas responsive to different visual features. This modular organization has sparked theoretical interest in how the "binding problem" is solved. Recent data from a neurological patient (R.M.) with bilateral parietal-occipital lesions demonstrates that the binding problem is not just a hypothetical construct; it can be a practical problem, as rare as the selective inability to perceive motion or color. R.M. miscombines colors and shapes even under free viewing conditions and is unable to judge either relative or absolute visual locations. The evidence suggests that a single explanation--an inadequate spatial representation--can account for R.M.'s spatial judgment and feature-binding deficits.

Cerebral Infarction↗

Neural activity in cortical area MST of alert monkey during ocular following responses.

1. We studied response properties of neurons in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) of behaving monkeys that discharged during brief, sudden movements of a large-field visual stimulus, eliciting ocular following. Most neurons responded to movements of a large-field visual stimulus with directional selectivity, preferring high stimulus speeds. Neurons were mostly recorded in the medial superior temporal area (MST) (187/250) and the middle temporal area (MT) (57/250). Further response properties were studied in the MST neurons. 2. Response latencies were measured when a large-field random dot pattern was moved in the preferred direction and preferred speed for each neuron. Eighty percent (120/150) of the neurons were activated < 50 ms after the onset of the stimulus motion. In most cases (89%, 134/150), increased firing rates started before the eye movements, with 59% (88/150) starting > 10 ms before the eye movements. 3. The relationship between the latency of neuronal responses and that of eye movements was studied in 59 neurons by changing the stimulus speed systematically (10-160 degrees/s). The latencies of both neuronal and ocular responses decreased as stimulus speed increased. As a result, the time difference between the response latencies for neuronal and ocular responses varied little with changes in stimulus speed. 4. Blurring of the random dot pattern, by interposing a sheet of ground glass, increased the latency of both neuronal responses and eye movements. 5. With the use of a check pattern instead of random dots, both neuronal and ocular responses began to decrease rapidly when the temporal frequency of the visual stimulus exceeded 20 Hz. At 40 Hz the neurons showed a distinctive burst-and-pause firing pattern, and the eye movements showed signs of oscillation. 6. The response properties of the MST neurons during ocular following were similar to those of the dorsolateral pontine nucleus (DLPN) neurons, reported previously. Our results indicate that the MST neurons may provide visual information to the DLPN neurons and may play a role in eliciting ocular following. 7. Responses during smooth-pursuit eye movement were studied in 55 MST neurons. Each of these neurons responded to the moving large-field visual stimulus, which elicited ocular following, and 40 of these neurons were activated during smooth pursuit in the dark. Response latencies during smooth pursuit were long in those neurons having different directional preferences during smooth pursuit and ocular following but were short for those having the same directional preferences during smooth pursuit and ocular following.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗

Effects of display medium and luminance contrast on concept formation and EEG response.

Reading from a visual display terminal (VDT) has increased enormously with widespread computer use. Whether such reading affects higher cognitive processes requires study so the effect of display medium (LCD screen vs paper) and luminance contrast (1:3, 1:7, 1:11) on concept-formation performance and EEG responses was investigated. 96 men and 24 women participated in two concept-formation tasks (rule learning vs attribute and rule learning). Concept-formation performance and EEG responses were similar for stimuli displayed on paper or LCD screen. The concern that the screen may be detrimental to conception-formation performance was not confirmed; however, luminance contrast significantly affected time to complete a concept-formation task and EEG response. The middle contrast (1:7) had the smallest mean EEG power, so this contrast might be appropriate for cognitive performance. Participants' performance was significantly faster and EEG power lower for the rule-learning task than for an attribute and rule-learning task.

Adult↗

Psychophysical power functions for apparent area in perceptive, memory, and inference conditions for observers of different age groups.

The purpose of this research was to verify the effect of age on the exponent of the power function in Perceptive, Memory, and Inference experimental conditions. In the Memory condition the intervals of 2 min., 8, 24, and 48 hr. and 1 wk. were used between acquisition of information and remembering. For each experimental condition the ages of observers ranged between 17 and 35 years (Group I), 40-55 years (Group II), and 60-77 years (Group III), and education ranged from high school to graduate school. The observers estimated the areas of the Brazilian satires using the psychophysical method of magnitude estimation. No significant differences were obtained for Groups I, II, and III for each experimental condition, except in the Memory Condition with the 24-hr. interval. Analysis for experimental conditions and ages showed a significant difference between the Perceptive Condition and each of the others, but no difference between the Inference and Memory Conditions. These results indicated that in the remembering processes there is no loss of information as a function of age. From the small variability in the power function exponents for the three ages, we may assume that age could be related to amount of education of the observers, which suggests study is important.

Adult↗

Moving and looming stimuli capture attention.

Attention capture is often operationally defined as speeded search performance when an otherwise nonpredictive stimulus happens to be the target of a visual search. That is, if a stimulus captures attention, it should be searched with priority even when it is irrelevant to the task. Given this definition, only the abrupt appearance of a new object (see, e.g., Jonides & Yantis, 1988) and one type of luminance contrast change (Enns, Austen, Di Lollo, Rauschenberger, & Yantis, 2001) have been shown to strongly capture attention. We show that translating and looming stimuli also capture attention. This phenomenon does not occur for all dynamic events: We also show that receding stimuli do not attract attention. Although the sorts of dynamic events that capture attention do not fit neatly into a single category, we speculate that stimuli that signal potentially behaviorally urgent events are more likely to receive attentional priority.

Adult↗

Objects of attention, objects of perception.

Four experiments were conducted, to explore the notion of objects in perception. Taking as a starting point the effects of display content on rapid attention transfer and manipulating curvature, closure, and processing time, a link between objects of attention and objects of perception is proposed. In Experiment 1, a number of parallel, equally spaced, straight lines facilitated attention transfer along the lines, relative to transfer across the lines. In Experiment 2, with curved, closed-contour shapes, no "same-object" facilitation was observed. However, when a longer time interval was provided, in Experiment 3, a same-object advantage started to emerge. In Experiment 4, using the same curved shapes but in a non-speeded distance estimation task, a strong effect of objects was observed. It is argued that attention transfer is facilitated by line tracing but that line tracing is encouraged by objects.

Adult↗