Neural Networks Trained on Natural Scenes Exhibit Gestalt Closure

The Gestalt laws of perceptual organization, which describe how visual elements in an image are grouped and interpreted, have traditionally been thought of as innate. Given past research showing that these laws have ecological validity, we investigate whether deep learning methods infer Gestalt laws from the statistics of natural scenes. We examine the law of closure, which asserts that human visual perception tends to “close the gap” by assembling elements that can jointly be interpreted as a complete figure or object. We demonstrate that a state-of-the-art convolutional neural network, trained to classify natural images, exhibits closure on synthetic displays of edge fragments, as assessed by similarity of internal representations. This finding provides further support for the hypothesis that the human perceptual system is even more elegant than the Gestaltists imagined: a single law—adaptation to the statistical structure of the environment—might suffice as fundamental.

Development of Teaching Materials Based on Confidence Character Education for Improving Reading Skills of Grade IV Elementary Students

The research objectives were to describe the need for developing teaching materials based on confident character education, to describe the product design for the development of teaching materials, to explain the acceptability of developing teaching materials based on confident character education to improve reading skills of fourth grade students. Teaching materials are a set of material/learning materials (teaching material) arranged systematically, showing a complete figure of the competencies that students will master in learning activities. According to Lauster in Ghufron (2011:36), the aspects contained in self-confidence include: belief in self-ability, optimism, positive attitude, objective, responsible, rational.Research and development methods (Research and Development / R & D) are used to develop or validate products used in education and learning Sugiyono (2009: 4) cites the opinion of Borg and Gall (1988). This research will be carried out in seven research stages (1) Theoretical and Practical Analysis (2) Needs Analysis of Reading Skills Textbook Development (3) Prototype Compilation (4) Expert Test (5) Prototype Revision (6) Product Use Test (7) Revision Field Test Results.This material is effective in improving students reading aloud skills. This is evidenced by the increase in the n-gain index in the experimental class higher than the control class. The experimental class has an increase in gain of 0.57 in the medium category and the control class by 0.25 in the low category.

Satiation Effects with Reversible Figures

Three experiments were performed to examine the rate at which reversible perspective figures (Necker cubes) undergo apparent reversal, as a function of selected stimulus variables. 100 subjects were instructed not to inhibit or to promote reversals of perspective, but to remain neutral. The data indicated: (1) an incomplete cube reverses less frequently than does a corresponding complete figure, (2) two adjacent cubes reverse in synchrony when of equal luminance but often out of phase when differing in luminance, (3) a shift of the cube's retinal position causes its reversal rate to drop to baseline level. These results suggest that the reversal effect increases over time due to a localized rather than general process, and are thus compatible with a sensory satiation model of perceptual alternation.