Flank Transparency: The Effects of Gaps, Line Spacing, and Apparent Motion

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p3410 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 1073-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Wollschläger ◽  
Antonio M Rodriguez ◽  
Donald D Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Apparent Motion ◽  
Spatial Extent ◽  
Illusory Contours ◽  
Spreading Effect ◽  
Color Spreading ◽  
Line Spacing ◽  
Neon Color Spreading

We analyze the properties of a dynamic color-spreading display created by adding narrow colored flanks to rigidly moving black lines where these lines fall in the interior of a stationary virtual disk. This recently introduced display (Wollschläger et al, 2001 Perception30 1423–1426) induces the perception of a colored transparent disk bounded by strong illusory contours. It provides a link between the classical neon-color-spreading effect and edge-induced color spreading as discussed by Pinna et al (2001 Vision Research41 2669–2676). We performed three experiments to quantitatively study (i) the enhancing influence of apparent motion; (ii) the degrading effect of small spatial discontinuities (gaps) between lines and flanks; and (iii) the spatial extent of the color spreading. We interpret the results as due to varying degrees of objecthood of the dynamically specified disk: increased objecthood leads to increased surface visibility in both contour and color.

A Theory of Illusory Lightness and Transparency in Monocular and Binocular Images: The Role of Contour Junctions

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barton L Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Illumination Change ◽  
Discontinuous Change ◽  
Illusory Contours ◽  
Contrast Polarity ◽  
Color Spreading ◽  
Transparent Surface ◽  
Neon Color Spreading ◽  
Lower Contrast

A theory of illusory transparency and lightness is described for monocular and binocular images containing X-, T- and I-contour junctions. This theory asserts that the geometric and luminance relationships of contour junctions induce illusory transparency and lightness percepts by causing a phenomenal scission of a homogenous luminance into multiple contributions. Specifically, it is argued that a discontinuous change in contrast along aligned contours that preserve contrast polarity induces a scission of the lower contrast region into a near-transparent surface or an illumination change, and a more distant surface that continues behind this near layer. This scission is assumed to cause changes in perceived lightness and/or surface opacity. Discontinuous changes in contrast along contours also are assumed to induce end-cut illusory contours that run roughly perpendicular to the inducing orientation of the contour, both monocularly and binocularly. Binocular illusory contours are shown to be caused by the presence of unmatchable contour terminators. It is argued that the presented theory can provide a unified account of a variety of monocular and binocular illusions that induce uniform transformations in perceived lightness, including neon-color spreading, the Munker – White illusion, Benary's illusion, and illusory monocular and binocular transparency.

Neon Flank and Illusory Contour: Interaction between the Two Processes Leads to Color Filling-in

Perception ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshige Takeichi ◽  
Shinsuke Shimojo ◽  
Takeo Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Illusory Contour ◽  
Feature Detection ◽  
Illusory Contours ◽  
Local Color ◽  
Color Spreading ◽  
Surface Separation ◽  
Dichoptic Viewing ◽  
Contour Interaction ◽  
Neon Color Spreading

Two aspects of neon color spreading, local color spreading (neon flank) and illusory contour, were investigated by dichoptic viewing. Neon flank was not observed under appropriate dichoptic stimulation, suggesting that input to the process for local color spreading is based on monocular configuration. However, illusory contours were formed according to the interocularly combined configuration rather than according to each monocular configuration, suggesting that input to the process responsible for illusory contours should be ocularly-nonselective and binocular, rather than monocular. The possibilities of artifacts such as those arising from interocular rivalry were appropriately eliminated, and thus, it is tentatively concluded that the process underlying local color spreading is monocularly driven, whereas the process underlying illusory contours is binocularly driven. Furthermore, a new demonstration is presented that indicates that interocularly-induced illusory contours ‘capture’ and extend the monocularly-induced local color spreading, resulting in global color spreading (neon color spreading). These results support our hypotheses that neon color spreading involves two separable processes in the early visual processing, the feature detection process (for local color spreading) and the illusory contour process, and that these two processes interact with each other at later stages of cortical processing. The relation of local color spreading and illusory contours to surface separation is also discussed.

scholarly journals A detailed mathematical theory of thalamic and cortical microcircuits based on inference in a generative vision model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dileep George ◽  
Miguel Lázaro-Gredilla ◽  
Wolfgang Lehrach ◽  
Antoine Dedieu ◽  
Guangyao Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Spreading Effect ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Color Spreading ◽  
Functional Logic ◽  
Visual Phenomena ◽  
Intelligence Theory ◽  
Cortical Circuit ◽  
Neon Color Spreading ◽  
Anatomical Constraints

AbstractUnderstanding the information processing roles of cortical circuits is an outstanding problem in neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Theory-driven efforts will be required to tease apart the functional logic of cortical circuits from the vast amounts of experimental data on cortical connectivity and physiology. Although the theoretical setting of Bayesian inference has been suggested as a framework for understanding cortical computation, making precise and falsifiable biological mappings need models that tackle the challenge of real world tasks. Based on a recent generative model, Recursive Cortical Networks, that demonstrated excellent performance on visual task benchmarks, we derive a family of anatomically instantiated and functional cortical circuit models. Efficient inference and generalization guided the representational choices in the original computational model. The cortical circuit model is derived by systematically comparing the computational requirements of this model with known anatomical constraints. The derived model suggests precise functional roles for the feed-forward, feedback, and lateral connections observed in different laminae and columns, assigns a computational role for the path through the thalamus, predicts the interactions between blobs and inter-blobs, and offers an algorithmic explanation for the innate inter-laminar connectivity between clonal neurons within a cortical column. The model also explains several visual phenomena, including the subjective contour effect, and neon-color spreading effect, with circuit-level precision. Our work paves a new path forward in understanding the logic of cortical and thalamic circuits.

Color Assimilation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick A. A. Kingdom
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Spreading Effect ◽  
Traditional Form ◽  
Color Spreading ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Contrast Normalization ◽  
Neon Color Spreading ◽  
Perceived Color

Color assimilation, also known as the Von Bezold spreading effect, is the phenomenon in which the perceived color of a region shifts toward that of its neighbor. This chapter describes the traditional form of color assimilation as well as three “special cases” where the effects are particularly dramatic: the chromatic White’s Effect, Monnier and Shevell’s ring patterns, and neon-color spreading. Three potential causes of color assimilation are discussed: neural blurring, contrast normalization, and perceptual layer decomposition. All three of these could contribute to White’s Effect, and their relation to the other two cases are also discussed. Discussion on assimilation versus contrast and the effect of simulation contrast is included, and several figures are provided that illustrate the concepts.

How a Brain Sees: Constructing Reality

2021 ◽  
pp. 86-121
Author(s):  
Stephen Grossberg
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Image Features ◽  
Color Spreading ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Artistic Styles ◽  
Neon Color Spreading ◽  
Boundary Completion

The distinction between seeing and knowing, and why our brains even bother to see, are discussed using vivid perceptual examples, including image features without visible qualia that can nonetheless be consciously recognized, The work of Helmholtz and Kanizsa exemplify these issues, including examples of the paradoxical facts that “all boundaries are invisible”, and that brighter objects look closer. Why we do not see the big holes in, and occluders of, our retinas that block light from reaching our photoreceptors is explained, leading to the realization that essentially all percepts are visual illusions. Why they often look real is also explained. The computationally complementary properties of boundary completion and surface filling-in are introduced and their unifying explanatory power is illustrated, including that “all conscious qualia are surface percepts”. Neon color spreading provides a vivid example, as do self-luminous, glary, and glossy percepts. How brains embody general-purpose self-organizing architectures for solving modal problems, more general than AI algorithms, but less general than digital computers, is described. New concepts and mechanisms of such architectures are explained, including hierarchical resolution of uncertainty. Examples from the visual arts and technology are described to illustrate them, including paintings of Baer, Banksy, Bleckner, da Vinci, Gene Davis, Hawthorne, Hensche, Matisse, Monet, Olitski, Seurat, and Stella. Paintings by different artists and artistic schools instinctively emphasize some brain processes over others. These choices exemplify their artistic styles. The role of perspective, T-junctions, and end gaps are used to explain how 2D pictures can induce percepts of 3D scenes.

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