scholarly journals How big should this object be? Perceptual influences on viewing-size preferences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Chia Chen ◽  
Arturo Deza ◽  
Talia Konkle
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Forced Choice Task ◽  
Visual Size ◽  
Form Information

When viewing objects depicted in a frame, observers prefer to view large objects like cars in larger sizes and smaller objects like cups in smaller sizes. That is, the visual size of an object that "looks best" is linked to its typical physical size in the world. Why is this the case? One intuitive possibility is that these preferences are driven by semantic knowledge: For example, when we recognize a sofa, we access our knowledge about its real-world size, and this influences what size we prefer to view the sofa within a frame. However, might visual processing play a role in this phenomenon--that is, do visual features that are related to big and small objects look better at big and small visual sizes, respectively, even when observers do not have explicit access to semantic knowledge about the objects? To test this possibility, we used "texform" images, which are synthesized versions of recognizable objects, which critically retain local perceptual texture and coarse form information, but are no longer explicitly recognizable. To test for visual size preferences, we used a two-interval forced choice task, in which each texform was presented at the preferred visual size of its corresponding original image, and a visual size slightly bigger or smaller. Observers consistently selected the texform presented at the canonical visual size as the more aesthetically pleasing one. These results suggest that the preferred visual size of an object depends not only on explicit knowledge of its real-world size, but also can be evoked by mid-level visual features that systematically covary with an object's real-world size.

scholarly journals Semantic knowledge influences visual working memory in adults and children

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0241110
Author(s):  
Ariel Starr ◽  
Mahesh Srinivasan ◽  
Silvia A. Bunge
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Real World ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Abstract Stimuli ◽  
Familiar Objects

We can retain only a portion of the visual information that we encounter within our visual working memory. Which factors influence how much information we can remember? Recent studies have demonstrated that the capacity of visual working memory is influenced by the type of information to be remembered and is greater for real-world objects than for abstract stimuli. One explanation for this effect is that the semantic knowledge associated with real-world objects makes them easier to maintain in working memory. Previous studies have indirectly tested this proposal and led to inconsistent conclusions. Here, we directly tested whether semantic knowledge confers a benefit for visual working memory by using familiar and unfamiliar real-world objects. We found a mnemonic benefit for familiar objects in adults and children between the ages of 4 and 9 years. Control conditions ruled out alternative explanations, namely the possibility that the familiar objects could be more easily labeled or that there were differences in low-level visual features between the two types of objects. Together, these findings demonstrate that semantic knowledge influences visual working memory, which suggests that the capacity of visual working memory is not fixed but instead fluctuates depending on what has to be remembered.

scholarly journals Canonical Size for Real-Word Objects in Drawings Performed under Haptic Control

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-200
Author(s):  
Magdalena Szubielska ◽  
Marcin Wojtasiński ◽  
Katarzyna Biedroń ◽  
Mateusz Bobel ◽  
Natalia Chudziak
Keyword(s):  
Size Effect ◽  
Real World ◽  
Real Word ◽  
Object Processing ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Drawing Task ◽  
Physical Objects ◽  
Visual Size ◽  
Visual Domain ◽  
Haptic Control

To date canonical size for physical objects has been exclusively investigated in the visual domain and termed canonical visual size. As the visual and haptic modalities are interconnected in object processing, we have investigated if canonical size occurs in the tactile domain, namely, in embossed drawings made by sighted adults when blindfolded. 17 participants were asked to draw 16 objects of 8 different ranks of physical size. In the visual domain, they drew on sheets of paper, and in the tactile domain, they drew (when blindfolded) on special plastic sheets for embossed graphics haptically controlling the performance with hands. In both the visual and the tactile domain the size of drawings increased linearly with the logarithm of the physical size of real-world objects indicating occurrence of canonical size effect in both domains. Our findings demonstrated that canonical size is not only visual in character but that it is also revealed in a haptic drawing task. It suggests that spatial images (at least visual and tactile) are shared instead of being unimodal in nature.

Assessing the Link Between Perception and Production in Cantonese Tone Acquisition

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1243-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggy Pik Ki Mok ◽  
Holly Sze Ho Fung ◽  
Vivian Guo Li
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Tone Pair ◽  
Tone Production ◽  
Monosyllabic Words ◽  
Early Production ◽  
Forced Choice Task ◽  
Production Accuracy

Purpose Previous studies showed early production precedes late perception in Cantonese tone acquisition, contrary to the general principle that perception precedes production in child language. How tone production and perception are linked in 1st language acquisition remains largely unknown. Our study revisited the acquisition of tone in Cantonese-speaking children, exploring the possible link between production and perception in 1st language acquisition. Method One hundred eleven Cantonese-speaking children aged between 2;0 and 6;0 (years;months) and 10 adolescent reference speakers participated in tone production and perception experiments. Production materials with 30 monosyllabic words were transcribed in filtered and unfiltered conditions by 2 native judges. Perception accuracy was based on a 2-alternative forced-choice task with pictures covering all possible tone pair contrasts. Results Children's accuracy of production and perception of all the 6 Cantonese tones was still not adultlike by age 6;0. Both production and perception accuracies matured with age. A weak positive link was found between the 2 accuracies. Mother's native language contributed to children's production accuracy. Conclusions Our findings show that production and perception abilities are associated in tone acquisition. Further study is needed to explore factors affecting production accuracy in children. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7960826

Habit learning in a forced-choice task

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Dressel ◽  
Teena D. Moody ◽  
Barbara J. Knowlton
Keyword(s):  
Forced Choice ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Habit Learning ◽  
Forced Choice Task

Canonical Size in Haptic Drawings

Perception ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-100
Author(s):  
Magdalena Szubielska ◽  
Marcin Wojtasiński
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Visual Domain ◽  
Familiar Objects

This study aimed to test differences in drawn size of familiar objects of different physical size in haptic drawings produced by blindfolded sighted participants. Using two sizes of the foil sheets on which they made convex drawings, they drew one object per foil. The results showed that the size of drawings increased linearly with the rising rank of real-world size. Although larger drawings were created on larger foils than on smaller ones, the ratio of the object drawn size within the foil sheet size did not differ across foil sizes. Hence, canonical size—a phenomenon known so far from studies on the visual domain—revealed here in a task performed in the haptic domain.

scholarly journals Biological Bases of Beauty Revisited: The Effect of Symmetry, Averageness, and Sexual Dimorphism on Female Facial Attractiveness

Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex L. Jones ◽  
Bastian Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Facial Attractiveness ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Female ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Skin Texture ◽  
Femininity And Masculinity ◽  
Forced Choice Task

The factors influencing human female facial attractiveness—symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism—have been extensively studied. However, recent studies, using improved methodologies, have called into question their evolutionary utility and links with life history. The current studies use a range of approaches to quantify how important these factors actually are in perceiving attractiveness, through the use of novel statistical analyses and by addressing methodological weaknesses in the literature. Study One examines how manipulations of symmetry, averageness, femininity, and masculinity affect attractiveness using a two-alternative forced choice task, finding that increased masculinity and also femininity decrease attractiveness, compared to unmanipulated faces. Symmetry and averageness yielded a small and large effect, respectively. Study Two utilises a naturalistic ratings paradigm, finding similar effects of averageness and masculinity as Study One but no effects of symmetry and femininity on attractiveness. Study Three applies geometric face measurements of the factors and a random forest machine learning algorithm to predict perceived attractiveness, finding that shape averageness, dimorphism, and skin texture symmetry are useful features capable of relatively accurate predictions, while shape symmetry is uninformative. However, the factors do not explain as much variance in attractiveness as the literature suggests. The implications for future research on attractiveness are discussed.

scholarly journals RNNs develop history biases in an expectation-guided two-alternative forced choice task

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Molano-Mazon ◽  
Guangyu Robert Yang ◽  
Ainhoa Hermoso-Mendizabal ◽  
Jaime de la Rocha
Keyword(s):  
Forced Choice ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Forced Choice Task

scholarly journals Refixation Patterns of Mind-wandering during Real-world Scene Perception

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Zhang ◽  
Nicola C Anderson ◽  
Kevin Miller
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Real World ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Scene Perception ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Quantification Analysis ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Thought Probes

Recent studies have shown that mind-wandering (MW) is associated with changes in eye movement parameters, but have not explored how MW affects the sequential pattern of eye movements involved in making sense of complex visual information. Eye movements naturally unfold over time and this process may reveal novel information about cognitive processing during MW. The current study used Recurrence Quantification Analysis (Anderson, Bischof, Laidlaw, Risko, & Kingstone, 2013) to describe the pattern of refixations (fixations directed to previously-inspected regions) during MW. Participants completed a real-world scene encoding task and responded to thought probes assessing intentional and unintentional MW. Both types of MW were associated with worse memory of the scenes. Importantly, RQA showed that scanpaths during unintentional MW were more repetitive than during on-task episodes, as indicated by a higher recurrence rate and more stereotypical fixation sequences. This increased repetitiveness suggests an adaptive response to processing failures through re-examining previous locations. Moreover, this increased repetitiveness contributed to fixations focusing on a smaller spatial scale of the stimuli. Finally, we were also able to validate several traditional measures: both intentional and unintentional MW were associated with fewer and longer fixations; Eye-blinking increased numerically during both types of MW but the difference was only significant for unintentional MW. Overall, the results advanced our understanding of how visual processing is affected during MW by highlighting the sequential aspect of eye movements.

scholarly journals Organization of the Drosophila larval visual circuit

eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Larderet ◽  
Pauline MJ Fritsch ◽  
Nanae Gendre ◽  
G Larisa Neagu-Maier ◽  
Richard D Fetter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
Wiring Diagram ◽  
Visual Systems ◽  
Drosophila Larvae ◽  
Organizational Principles ◽  
Numerical Complexity

Visual systems transduce, process and transmit light-dependent environmental cues. Computation of visual features depends on photoreceptor neuron types (PR) present, organization of the eye and wiring of the underlying neural circuit. Here, we describe the circuit architecture of the visual system of Drosophila larvae by mapping the synaptic wiring diagram and neurotransmitters. By contacting different targets, the two larval PR-subtypes create two converging pathways potentially underlying the computation of ambient light intensity and temporal light changes already within this first visual processing center. Locally processed visual information then signals via dedicated projection interneurons to higher brain areas including the lateral horn and mushroom body. The stratified structure of the larval optic neuropil (LON) suggests common organizational principles with the adult fly and vertebrate visual systems. The complete synaptic wiring diagram of the LON paves the way to understanding how circuits with reduced numerical complexity control wide ranges of behaviors.

Dissociation of implicit and explicit knowledge in a case of psychogenic retrograde amnesia

1996 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Campodonico ◽  
Sharilyn Rediess
Keyword(s):  
Retrograde Amnesia ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Acute Onset ◽  
Language Functioning ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Retrograde Memory ◽  
Explicit Recall ◽  
Neuropsychological Tasks ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

AbstractThere have been few studies of psychogenic amnesia based on a cognitive or neuropsychological framework. In the present study, a patient with acute onset of profound psychogenic retrograde amnesia was examined. Although her performance on neuropsychological tasks revealed intact anterograde memory, language functioning, visuospatial and constructional skills, and mental speed and flexibility, she displayed severe impairments on a variety of retrograde memory tasks. Furthermore, initial observations revealed inconsistencies between the patient’s recall of semantic knowledge on direct questioning and her ability to demonstrate the use of this knowledge on indirect tasks. To test this formally, we devised an indirect remote knowledge task to examine a possible dissociation between explicit and implicit memory. Two healthy subjects matched for age, gender, education, occupation, and estimated IQ were also tested. As predicted, the findings demonstrate implicit knowledge despite impaired explicit recall for the same material. (JINS, 1996, 2, 146–158.)

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