scholarly journals Six-Month-Old Infants Perceive the Hollow-Face Illusion

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p7110 ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 1376-1383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherryse Corrow ◽  
Carl E Granrud ◽  
Jordan Mathison ◽  
Albert Yonas
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Binocular Viewing ◽  
Viewing Distance

In this study we investigated infants' perception of the hollow-face illusion. 6-month-old infants were shown a concave mask under monocular and binocular viewing conditions and the direction of their reaches toward the mask was recorded. Adults typically perceive a concave mask as convex under monocular conditions but as concave under binocular conditions, depending on viewing distance. Based on previous findings that infants reach preferentially toward the parts of a display that are closest to them, we expected that, if infants perceive the hollow-face illusion as adults do, they would reach to the center of the mask when viewing it monocularly and to the edges when viewing it binocularly. The results were consistent with these predictions. Our findings indicated that the infants perceived the mask as convex when viewing it with one eye and concave when viewing it with two eyes. The results show that 6-month-old infants respond to the hollow-face illusion. Our finding suggests that, early in life, the visual system uses the constraint, or assumption, that faces are convex when interpreting visual input.

scholarly journals Near-optimal combination of disparity across a log-polar scaled visual field

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Maiello ◽  
Manuela Chessa ◽  
Peter J. Bex ◽  
Fabio Solari
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Depth Perception ◽  
Binocular Disparity ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Depth Information ◽  
Central Vision

AbstractThe human visual system is foveated: we can see fine spatial details in central vision, whereas resolution is poor in our peripheral visual field, and this loss of resolution follows an approximately logarithmic decrease. Additionally, our brain organizes visual input in polar coordinates. Therefore, the image projection occurring between retina and primary visual cortex can be mathematically described by the log-polar transform. Here, we test and model how this space-variant visual processing affects how we process binocular disparity, a key component of human depth perception. We observe that the fovea preferentially processes disparities at fine spatial scales, whereas the visual periphery is tuned for coarse spatial scales, in line with the naturally occurring distributions of depths and disparities in the real-world. We further show that the visual field integrates disparity information across the visual field, in a near-optimal fashion. We develop a foveated, log-polar model that mimics the processing of depth information in primary visual cortex and that can process disparity directly in the cortical domain representation. This model takes real images as input and recreates the observed topography of disparity sensitivity in man. Our findings support the notion that our foveated, binocular visual system has been moulded by the statistics of our visual environment.Author summaryWe investigate how humans perceive depth from binocular disparity at different spatial scales and across different regions of the visual field. We show that small changes in disparity-defined depth are detected best in central vision, whereas peripheral vision best captures the coarser structure of the environment. We also demonstrate that depth information extracted from different regions of the visual field is combined into a unified depth percept. We then construct an image-computable model of disparity processing that takes into account how our brain organizes the visual input at our retinae. The model operates directly in cortical image space, and neatly accounts for human depth perception across the visual field.

scholarly journals Transsaccadic integration operates independently in different feature dimensions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garry Kong ◽  
David Aagten-Murphy ◽  
Jessica MV McMaster ◽  
Paul M Bays
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Peripheral Vision ◽  
Probability Of Detection ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
The Other ◽  
Feature Change ◽  
Observer Model ◽  
Transsaccadic Integration ◽  
Gaze Fixations

Our knowledge about objects in our environment reflects an integration of current visual input with information from preceding gaze fixations. Such a mechanism may reduce uncertainty, but requires the visual system to determine which information obtained in different fixations should be combined or kept separate. To investigate the basis of this decision, we conducted three experiments. Participants viewed a stimulus in their peripheral vision, then made a saccade that shifted the object into the opposite hemifield. During the saccade, the object underwent changes of varying magnitude in two feature dimensions (Experiment 1: color and location, Experiments 2 and 3: color and orientation). Participants reported whether they detected any change and estimated one of the post-saccadic features. Integration of pre-saccadic with post-saccadic input was observed as a bias in estimates towards the pre-saccadic feature value. In all experiments, pre-saccadic bias weakened as the magnitude of the transsaccadic change in the estimated feature increased. Changes in the other feature, despite having a similar probability of detection, had no effect on integration. Results were quantitatively captured by an observer model where the decision whether to integrate information from sequential fixations is made independently for each feature and coupled to awareness of a feature change.

scholarly journals Temporal tuning of repetition suppression across the visual cortex

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 224-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Fritsche ◽  
Samuel J. D. Lawrence ◽  
Floris P. de Lange
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Similar Rate ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Repetition Suppression ◽  
Visual Hierarchy ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
High Level ◽  
Posterior Anterior

The visual system adapts to its recent history. A phenomenon related to this is repetition suppression (RS), a reduction in neural responses to repeated compared with nonrepeated visual input. An intriguing hypothesis is that the timescale over which RS occurs across the visual hierarchy is tuned to the temporal statistics of visual input features, which change rapidly in low-level areas but are more stable in higher level areas. Here, we tested this hypothesis by studying the influence of the temporal lag between successive visual stimuli on RS throughout the visual system using functional (f)MRI. Twelve human volunteers engaged in four fMRI sessions in which we characterized the blood oxygen level-dependent response to pairs of repeated and nonrepeated natural images with interstimulus intervals (ISI) ranging from 50 to 1,000 ms to quantify the temporal tuning of RS along the posterior-anterior axis of the visual system. As expected, RS was maximal for short ISIs and decayed with increasing ISI. Crucially, however, and against our hypothesis, RS decayed at a similar rate in early and late visual areas. This finding challenges the prevailing view that the timescale of RS increases along the posterior-anterior axis of the visual system and suggests that RS is not tuned to temporal input regularities. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Visual areas show reduced neural responses to repeated compared with nonrepeated visual input, a phenomenon termed repetition suppression (RS). Here we show that RS decays at a similar rate in low- and high-level visual areas, suggesting that the short-term decay of RS across the visual hierarchy is not tuned to temporal input regularities. This may limit the specificity with which the mechanisms underlying RS could optimize the processing of input features across the visual hierarchy.

Revision: Is Visual Perception a Requisite for Visual Imagery?

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p3360 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 717-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Kaski
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Visual Perception ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
External World ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Perceptual Information ◽  
Neural Substrate ◽  
Retrieval Problem

Vision is the most highly developed sense in man and represents the doorway through which most of our knowledge of the external world arises. Visual imagery can be defined as the representation of perceptual information in the absence of visual input. Visual imagery has been shown to complement vision in this acquisition of knowledge—it is used in memory retrieval, problem solving, and the recognition of properties of objects. The processes underlying visual imagery have been assimilated to those of the visual system and are believed to share a neural substrate. However, results from studies in congenitally and cortically blind subjects have opposed this hypothesis. Here I review the currently available evidence.

The Art of Hybrid Images: Two for the View of One

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 65-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aude Oliva
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Human Visual System ◽  
Perceptual Grouping ◽  
The Other ◽  
Viewing Distance ◽  
Static Pictures

Hybrid images are static pictures with two interpretations that change depending on the image’s viewing distance or size. The phenomenon of hybrid images arises from the multiscale processing of images in the human visual system. By taking into account perceptual grouping mechanisms, one can build compelling hybrid images with two different stable interpretations: one that appears when the image is viewed up-close, and the other that appears from afar. Hybrid images can be used to create compelling prints and photographs in which the observer experiences different percepts when interacting with the image.

Six-Month-Old Infants' Perception of the Hollow Face Illusion: Evidence for a General Convexity Bias

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p7689 ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 1177-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherryse L Corrow ◽  
Jordan Mathison ◽  
Carl E Granrud ◽  
Albert Yonas
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Binocular Viewing ◽  
Viewing Condition ◽  
Binocular Condition ◽  
General Convexity ◽  
As If

Corrow, Granrud, Mathison, and Yonas (2011, Perception, 40, 1376–1383) found evidence that 6-month-old infants perceive the hollow face illusion. In the present study we asked whether 6-month-old infants perceive illusory depth reversal for a nonface object and whether infants' perception of the hollow face illusion is affected by mask orientation inversion. In experiment 1 infants viewed a concave bowl, and their reaches were recorded under monocular and binocular viewing conditions. Infants reached to the bowl as if it were convex significantly more often in the monocular than in the binocular viewing condition. These results suggest that infants perceive illusory depth reversal with a nonface stimulus and that the infant visual system has a bias to perceive objects as convex. Infants in experiment 2 viewed a concave face-like mask in upright and inverted orientations. Infants reached to the display as if it were convex more in the monocular than in the binocular condition; however, mask orientation had no effect on reaching. Previous findings that adults' perception of the hollow face illusion is affected by mask orientation inversion have been interpreted as evidence of stored-knowledge influences on perception. However, we found no evidence of such influences in infants, suggesting that their perception of this illusion may not be affected by stored knowledge, and that perceived depth reversal is not face-specific in infants.

scholarly journals Face familiarity promotes stable identity recognition: exploring face perception using serial dependence

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 160685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Kok ◽  
Jessica Taubert ◽  
Erik Van der Burg ◽  
Gillian Rhodes ◽  
David Alais
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Temporal Integration ◽  
Visual Cognition ◽  
Viewing Distance ◽  
Serial Dependence ◽  
Identity Recognition ◽  
Sequential Dependencies ◽  
Continuous Scale ◽  
Retinal Input ◽  
Unfamiliar Faces

Studies suggest that familiar faces are processed in a manner distinct from unfamiliar faces and that familiarity with a face confers an advantage in identity recognition. Our visual system seems to capitalize on experience to build stable face representations that are impervious to variation in retinal input that may occur due to changes in lighting, viewpoint, viewing distance, eye movements, etc. Emerging evidence also suggests that our visual system maintains a continuous perception of a face's identity from one moment to the next despite the retinal input variations through serial dependence. This study investigates whether interactions occur between face familiarity and serial dependence. In two experiments, participants used a continuous scale to rate attractiveness of unfamiliar and familiar faces (either experimentally learned or famous) presented in rapid sequences. Both experiments revealed robust inter-trial effects in which attractiveness ratings for a given face depended on the preceding face's attractiveness. This inter-trial attractiveness effect was most pronounced for unfamiliar faces. Indeed, when participants were familiar with a given face, attractiveness ratings showed significantly less serial dependence. These results represent the first evidence that familiar faces can resist the temporal integration seen in sequential dependencies and highlight the importance of familiarity to visual cognition.

scholarly journals 3-D Illusory Phenomena with Binocular Viewing and Computer Vision

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-255
Author(s):  
Masanori Idesawa ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Computer Vision ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Human Visual System ◽  
Visual Function ◽  
Vision System ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Space Perception ◽  
Binocular Viewing ◽  
Depth Information ◽  
New Paradigm

The human visual system can perceive 3-D information of an object by using disparity between two eyes, gradient of illumination (shading), occlusion, textures and their perspective and so on. Consequently, the disparity and the occlusion observed with binocular viewing seems to be the most important cues to get 3-D information. For the artificial realization of the visual function such as in computer vision or robot vision system, it seems to be a clever way to learn from the human visual mechanism. Recently, the author found a new type of illusion. When the visual stimuli of disparity are given only partially along the contour of an object, human visual system can perceive the 3-D surface (not only plane but also curved) of the object where there are no physical visual stimuli to get depth information. The interactions between the perceived illusory surface (occlusion, intersection and transparency) can be recognized. These newly found illusory phenomena have close relations with the visual function of 3-D space perception and can provide a new paradigm in the field of computer vision and human interface.

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