scholarly journals Guest Editorial: Perceptual Organisation and Object Recognition—POOR is the Acronym, Rich the Notion

Perception ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Wagemans ◽  
Régine Kolinsky
Keyword(s):  
Object Recognition ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Guest Editorial ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
Level Versus ◽  
High Level ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Processing Mechanism

Instead of studying perceptual organisation and object recognition in relative isolation, they can be viewed as two highly related sets of processes performed by the visual system to achieve its goal of acquiring information about the world. Fifteen papers devoted to specific subproblems within this active area of research have been brought together in two successive issues of Perception. Collectively they demonstrate that focusing on the functional interrelationships between perceptual organisation and object recognition will enrich our understanding of each of the subprocesses involved. The editorial provides an overview of the papers together with a discussion on how they relate to one another. If a general message is to be extracted from this set of papers, it is that the reported findings and the speculations offered to explain them suggest that the visual system's processes cannot be characterised in general by simple dichotomies such as analytic versus wholistic, bottom-up versus top-down, local versus global, low-level versus high-level, parallel versus serial, etc. Instead, it appears that a wide variety of mechanisms is available to the visual system. Therefore, a complete understanding of its functioning will require careful examination of the circumstances within which one processing mechanism seems to be selected over another, depending on the available information, the task demands, and perhaps even the observer's individual characteristics.

scholarly journals A dual role for shape skeletons in human vision: perceptual organization and object recognition

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladislav Ayzenberg ◽  
Frederik S. Kamps ◽  
Daniel D. Dilks ◽  
Stella F. Lourenco
Keyword(s):  
Object Recognition ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Perceptual Organization ◽  
Human Vision ◽  
Shape Information ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Response Profiles ◽  
High Level ◽  
Skeletal Model ◽  
Shape Skeletons

AbstractShape perception is crucial for object recognition. However, it remains unknown exactly how shape information is represented, and, consequently, used by the visual system. Here, we hypothesized that the visual system represents “shape skeletons” to both (1) perceptually organize contours and component parts into a shape percept, and (2) compare shapes to recognize objects. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and representational similarity analysis (RSA), we found that a model of skeletal similarity explained significant unique variance in the response profiles of V3 and LO, regions known to be involved in perceptual organization and object recognition, respectively. Moreover, the skeletal model remained predictive in these regions even when controlling for other models of visual similarity that approximate low- to high-level visual features (i.e., Gabor-jet, GIST, HMAX, and AlexNet), and across different surface forms, a manipulation that altered object contours while preserving the underlying skeleton. Together, these findings shed light on the functional roles of shape skeletons in human vision, as well as the computational properties of V3 and LO.

scholarly journals Vision as oculomotor reward: cognitive contributions to the dynamic control of saccadic eye movements

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Wolf ◽  
Markus Lappe
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Dynamic Control ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Saccade Target ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Foveal Vision ◽  
Subsequent Behavior ◽  
High Level

AbstractHumans and other primates are equipped with a foveated visual system. As a consequence, we reorient our fovea to objects and targets in the visual field that are conspicuous or that we consider relevant or worth looking at. These reorientations are achieved by means of saccadic eye movements. Where we saccade to depends on various low-level factors such as a targets’ luminance but also crucially on high-level factors like the expected reward or a targets’ relevance for perception and subsequent behavior. Here, we review recent findings how the control of saccadic eye movements is influenced by higher-level cognitive processes. We first describe the pathways by which cognitive contributions can influence the neural oculomotor circuit. Second, we summarize what saccade parameters reveal about cognitive mechanisms, particularly saccade latencies, saccade kinematics and changes in saccade gain. Finally, we review findings on what renders a saccade target valuable, as reflected in oculomotor behavior. We emphasize that foveal vision of the target after the saccade can constitute an internal reward for the visual system and that this is reflected in oculomotor dynamics that serve to quickly and accurately provide detailed foveal vision of relevant targets in the visual field.

Conspicuous consumption of luxury experiences: an experimental investigation of status perceptions on social media

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Siepmann ◽  
Lisa Carola Holthoff ◽  
Pascal Kowalczuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Conspicuous Consumption ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Luxury Goods ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Status ◽  
Self Actualization ◽  
The Individual ◽  
High Level

Purpose As luxury goods are losing their importance for demonstrating status, wealth or power to others, individuals are searching for alternative status symbols. Recently, individuals have increasingly used conspicuous consumption and displays of experiences on social media to obtain affirmation. This study aims to analyze the effects of luxury and nonluxury experiences, as well as traditional luxury goods on status- and nonstatus-related dimensions. Design/methodology/approach After presenting the theoretical foundation, the authors conduct a study with 599 participants to compare status perceptions elicited by the conspicuous consumption of luxury goods, luxury experiences and nonluxury experiences. The authors investigate whether experiences that are visibly consumed on Instagram are replacing traditional luxury goods as the most important status symbols. Furthermore, the authors examine the effects of the content shown on nonstatus-related dimensions and analyze whether status perceptions differ between female and male social media communicators. Finally, the authors analyze how personal characteristics (self-esteem, self-actualization and materialism) influence the status perceptions of others on social media. Findings The results show that luxury goods are still the most important means of displaying status. However, especially for women, luxury experiences are also associated with a high level of social status. Thus, the results imply important gender differences in the perceptions of status- and nonstatus-related dimensions. Furthermore, the findings indicate that, in particular, the individual characteristics of self-actualization and materialism affect status perceptions depending on the posted content. Originality/value While the research has already considered some alternative forms of conspicuous consumption, little attention has been given to experiences as status symbols. However, with their growing importance as substitutes for luxury goods and the rise of social media, the desire to conspicuously consume experiences is increasing. The authors address this gap in the literature by focusing on the conspicuous display of luxury and nonluxury experiences on social media.

Guest editorial: Solving problems for service consumers experiencing vulnerabilities: a marketplace challenge

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 685-691
Author(s):  
Raechel Johns ◽  
Janet Davey
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Guest Editorial ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Service Systems ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose While there is burgeoning service literature identifying consumer vulnerabilities and questioning the assumption that all consumers have the resources to co-create, limited research addresses solutions for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities. Service systems can provide support for consumers but can also create inequities and experienced vulnerabilities. This paper aims to identify current and further research needed to explore this issue and addresses marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities. Design/methodology/approach This viewpoint discusses key issues relating to solving marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities. A call for papers focused on solving marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities resulted in a large number of submissions. Nine papers are included in this special issue, and each one is discussed in this editorial according to five emergent themes. Findings Vulnerabilities can be temporary, or permanent, and anyone can suddenly experience vulnerabilities. Inequities and vulnerabilities can be due to individual characteristics, environmental forces, or due to the structure of the marketplace itself. Solutions include taking a strengths-based approach to addressing inequities and using a multiple-actor network to provide support. Practical implications The recommendations addressed in this paper enable more positive approaches to solving marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities. Social implications Taking a solutions-focused lens to research relating to vulnerabilities will contribute toward addressing inequities within the marketplace. Originality/value Increasingly, service literature is identifying inequities; however, very limited research addresses solutions for solving marketplace problems for consumers experiencing vulnerabilities. This paper suggests taking an approach focusing on strengths, rather than weaknesses, to determine strategies, and using the support of other actors (Transformative Service Mediators) where required.

Rehabilitation in Tehri Dam: An evaluation

Social Change ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 110-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. K. Sinha ◽  
H. C. Pokhriyal
Keyword(s):  
Common Property ◽  
Rehabilitation Process ◽  
Common Property Resources ◽  
Urban Households ◽  
Positive Externalities ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Tehri Dam ◽  
High Level ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Ownership Rights

In the whole debate of ecological suitability of Tehri Dam, the rehabilitation aspect has been found ignored. Keeping in view of the significance of complete rehabilitation and resettlement of the oustees, the overall rehabilitation process including rural and urban population is analysed in the present paper. In total, 125 villages will be fully or partially submerged affecting more than one lakh population. More than twenty thousand urban populations will also be rehabilitated. It is expected that around 6000 cores of rupees (at 1993 price level) will be spent. Out of which 13% will be spent on the rehabilitation of the oustees. On the basis of the available information, it is found that only 33% of the rural families and 66% of the urban households have actually received the compensation or taken the possession of the land in the new sites. Non availability of land to the rest of the oustee households has been identified as the peculiar dimension of the rehabilitation process. The resettled households in Dehradun and Haridwar districts are facing the problem of geographic continuity, land owner shiprights and absence of institutional mechanism like panchayati raj institutions in the new settlements. The absence of non-farm employment and non-accessibility to the common property resources are the critical problems, including the availability of drinking water, irrigation, primary health and education, which can be observed seen in the rehabilitation sites. The resettlers are unable to adjust with the new environment including a high level of dependency on the market forces for each and every requirement. The partially submerged population is also facing peculiar problems. They will only be given cash compensation without any other compensatory measures. The ‘upstream cost and down stream benefits syndrome’ is strikingly visible in the rehabilitation process. In the urban resettlement process various issues Iike-the validity of survey, classification of urban households and cut off dates are relevant to mention. The positive externalities of the old Tehri town were completely missing in the new urban rehabilitation site. As a whole it can be tentatively said that the process of rehabilitation has been loosely coordinated and badly implemented. The issues of upstream cost, accessibility to common property resources and customary rights are the neglected aspects in the process. The re-organisation of the institutional frame work and granting land ownership rights to the resettlers and quality of the basic amenities are the other inevitable requirements need proper assessment and implementation. The present process of rehabilitation is largely non-participatory and non transparent, which can only be solved through radical measures. These measures are unlikely to be initiated in the present set of Tehri dam administration.

scholarly journals Visual search for object categories is predicted by the representational architecture of high-level visual cortex

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 388-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Cohen ◽  
George A. Alvarez ◽  
Ken Nakayama ◽  
Talia Konkle
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Object Categories ◽  
High Level

Visual search is a ubiquitous visual behavior, and efficient search is essential for survival. Different cognitive models have explained the speed and accuracy of search based either on the dynamics of attention or on similarity of item representations. Here, we examined the extent to which performance on a visual search task can be predicted from the stable representational architecture of the visual system, independent of attentional dynamics. Participants performed a visual search task with 28 conditions reflecting different pairs of categories (e.g., searching for a face among cars, body among hammers, etc.). The time it took participants to find the target item varied as a function of category combination. In a separate group of participants, we measured the neural responses to these object categories when items were presented in isolation. Using representational similarity analysis, we then examined whether the similarity of neural responses across different subdivisions of the visual system had the requisite structure needed to predict visual search performance. Overall, we found strong brain/behavior correlations across most of the higher-level visual system, including both the ventral and dorsal pathways when considering both macroscale sectors as well as smaller mesoscale regions. These results suggest that visual search for real-world object categories is well predicted by the stable, task-independent architecture of the visual system. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Here, we ask which neural regions have neural response patterns that correlate with behavioral performance in a visual processing task. We found that the representational structure across all of high-level visual cortex has the requisite structure to predict behavior. Furthermore, when directly comparing different neural regions, we found that they all had highly similar category-level representational structures. These results point to a ubiquitous and uniform representational structure in high-level visual cortex underlying visual object processing.

scholarly journals A New Paradigm for Training Hyperactive Dopamine Transporter Knockout Rats: Influence of Novel Stimuli on Object Recognition

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia P. Kurzina ◽  
Anna B. Volnova ◽  
Irina Y. Aristova ◽  
Raul R. Gainetdinov
Keyword(s):  
Object Recognition ◽  
Dopamine Transporter ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Dopaminergic Transmission ◽  
Novel Objects ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Brain

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is believed to be connected with a high level of hyperactivity caused by alterations of the control of dopaminergic transmission in the brain. The strain of hyperdopaminergic dopamine transporter knockout (DAT-KO) rats represents an optimal model for investigating ADHD-related pathological mechanisms. The goal of this work was to study the influence of the overactivated dopamine system in the brain on a motor cognitive task fulfillment. The DAT-KO rats were trained to learn an object recognition task and store it in long-term memory. We found that DAT-KO rats can learn to move an object and retrieve food from the rewarded familiar objects and not to move the non-rewarded novel objects. However, we observed that the time of task performance and the distances traveled were significantly increased in DAT-KO rats in comparison with wild-type controls. Both groups of rats explored the novel objects longer than the familiar cubes. However, unlike controls, DAT-KO rats explored novel objects significantly longer and with fewer errors, since they preferred not to move the non-rewarded novel objects. After a 3 months’ interval that followed the training period, they were able to retain the learned skills in memory and to efficiently retrieve them. The data obtained indicate that DAT-KO rats have a deficiency in learning the cognitive task, but their hyperactivity does not prevent the ability to learn a non-spatial cognitive task under the presentation of novel stimuli. The longer exploration of novel objects during training may ensure persistent learning of the task paradigm. These findings may serve as a base for developing new ADHD learning paradigms.

scholarly journals Marmoset invariant object recognition behavior mirrors that of humans and macaques at fine scale

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J.E. Kell ◽  
Sophie L. Bokor ◽  
You-Nah Jeon ◽  
Tahereh Toosi ◽  
Elias B. Issa
Keyword(s):  
Object Recognition ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
High Standard ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Visual Object Recognition ◽  
Visual Neuroscience ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Invariant Object Recognition ◽  
Small Model ◽  
High Level

The marmoset—a small monkey with a flat cortex—offers powerful techniques for studying neural circuits in a primate. However, it remains unclear whether brain functions typically studied in larger primates can be studied in the marmoset. Here, we asked whether the 300-gram marmosets’ perceptual and cognitive repertoire approaches human levels or is instead closer to rodents’. Using high-level visual object recognition as a testbed, we found that on the same task marmosets substantially outperformed rats and generalized far more robustly across images, all while performing ∼1000 trials/day. We then compared marmosets against the high standard of human behavior. Across the same 400 images, marmosets’ image-by-image recognition behavior was strikingly human-like—essentially as human-like as macaques’. These results demonstrate that marmosets have been substantially underestimated and that high-level abilities have been conserved across simian primates. Consequently, marmosets are a potent small model organism for visual neuroscience, and perhaps beyond.

scholarly journals EYE-C: Eye-Contact Robust Detection and Analysis during Unconstrained Child-Therapist Interactions in the Clinical Setting of Autism Spectrum Disorders

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1555
Author(s):  
Gianpaolo Alvari ◽  
Luca Coviello ◽  
Cesare Furlanello
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Sample ◽  
Eye Contact ◽  
Video Camera ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Video Data ◽  
Contact Dynamics ◽  
Treatment Programs ◽  
Robust Detection ◽  
High Level

The high level of heterogeneity in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the lack of systematic measurements complicate predicting outcomes of early intervention and the identification of better-tailored treatment programs. Computational phenotyping may assist therapists in monitoring child behavior through quantitative measures and personalizing the intervention based on individual characteristics; still, real-world behavioral analysis is an ongoing challenge. For this purpose, we designed EYE-C, a system based on OpenPose and Gaze360 for fine-grained analysis of eye-contact episodes in unconstrained therapist-child interactions via a single video camera. The model was validated on video data varying in resolution and setting, achieving promising performance. We further tested EYE-C on a clinical sample of 62 preschoolers with ASD for spectrum stratification based on eye-contact features and age. By unsupervised clustering, three distinct sub-groups were identified, differentiated by eye-contact dynamics and a specific clinical phenotype. Overall, this study highlights the potential of Artificial Intelligence in categorizing atypical behavior and providing translational solutions that might assist clinical practice.

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