Evidence of a Universal Perceptual Unit in Mammals

Ethology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey E. Gerstner ◽  
Victoria A. Fazio
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Unit

Thematic object pairs produce stronger and faster perceptual grouping than taxonomic pairs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Nah ◽  
Joy Geng
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Perceptual Grouping ◽  
Semantic Information ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Critical Difference ◽  
Common Event ◽  
Taxonomic Relationships ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Fundamental Units

While objects are fundamental units of vision that convey meaning, how different types of semantic knowledge affect perception is not fully understood. In contrast, the concept literature divides semantic information into taxonomic and thematic types. Taxonomic relationships reflect categorization by similarities (e.g., dog – wolf); thematic groups are based on complementary relationships shared within a common event (e.g., swimsuit – goggles; pool). A critical difference between these two information types is that thematic relationships are learned from the experienced co-occurrence of objects whereas taxonomic relationships are learned abstractly. In two studies, we test the hypothesis that visual processing of thematically related objects is more rapid because they serve as mutual visual primes and form a perceptual unit. The results demonstrate that learned co-occurrence not only shapes semantic knowledge, but also affects low level visual processing, revealing a link between how information is acquired (e.g., experienced vs. unobserved) and how it modulates perception.

“Chunking” the World through Multisensory Perception

2019 ◽  
pp. 127-153
Author(s):  
Kevin Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Feature Binding ◽  
Multisensory Perception ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Binding Mechanism ◽  
The World

This chapter argues that multisensory perceptions are learned, not the result of an automatic feature binding mechanism. For example, suppose you are at a live jazz show. The drummer begins a solo. You see the cymbal jolt and hear the clang. But you are also aware that the jolt and the clang are part of the same event. Psychologists have assumed that multisensory perceptions like this one are the result of an automatic feature binding mechanism. This chapter argues instead that when you experience the jolt and the clang as part of the same event, it is the result of a perceptual learning process. The jolt and the clang are best understood as a single learned perceptual unit, not as automatically bound. This chapter details the perceptual learning process of “unitization,” whereby we come to “chunk” the world into multisensory units, and argues that unitization best explains multisensory perception.

Suffix Effects in Lists of Temporally Grouped Words

1978 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine G. Penney
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Suffix Effect ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Suffix Effects

Two groups of university students were presented with auditory lists of temporally grouped words for recall. The lists were immediately followed by either a redundant suffix, a nonredundant suffix or no suffix. One group of subjects was instructed to recall the items in strict serial order; the second group was required to write the last items first, indicating the position of all items in the list. According to Kahneman's (1973) account of the suffix effect, the interfering effect of the suffix should be eliminated when the suffix is segregated in a different group or perceptual unit from the memory items. The results did not support the prediction from Kahneman's hypothesis. An alternative account of the suffix effect was presented.

scholarly journals The Effect of Orthographic Anomalies upon Reading Behavior

1979 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Strange
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Fifth Grade ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Good Readers ◽  
Middle Position ◽  
Connected Discourse ◽  
Minor Anomalies ◽  
Study Support ◽  
In The Beginning

This investigation attempted to determine if the perceptual unit in reading was the letter or some other unit larger than the letter. Good readers in two grades read material changed to include particular types of orthographic anomalies. Subjects read seven passages. One passage contained no anomalies, the remaining six contained anomalies varying in degree and position. The dependent variable was the time necessary to read each passage. The results indicated that fifth grade subjects read all passages less rapidly than sixth grade subjects. The results also indicated that anomalized passages were read less rapidly than non-anomalized passages and that anomalies in the final position were less disruptive than anomalies in the beginning and middle position. No differences were found when anomalies in the middle position were compared to anomalies in the beginning position or when major anomalies were compared to minor anomalies. The results of the present study support a conclusion that word recognition while reading connected discourse is different from word recognition in isolation. The results also lend support for a left to right analysis of letter features within words until the word is identified, at which point the reader discards the unused letters.

Controlling Perception Thresholds for Changing Timbres in Continuous Sounds

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix A. Dobrowohl ◽  
Andrew J. Milne ◽  
Roger T. Dean
Keyword(s):  
Sound Source ◽  
Music Composition ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Perceptual System ◽  
Pitch Height ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Sound Source Identification ◽  
Sawtooth Oscillation ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Scientific Attention

Perceptual dimensions underlying timbre and sound-source identification have received considerable scientific attention. While these scholarly insights help us in understanding the nature of sound within a multidimensional timbral space, they carry little meaning for the majority of musicians. To help address this, we conducted two experiments to establish listeners’ perceptual thresholds (PT) for changes in sound using a staircase-procedure. Unlike most timbre perception research, these changes were sonic manipulations that are common in synthesisers, audio processors and instruments familiar to musicians and producers, and occurred within continuous sounds (rather than between discrete pairs of sounds). In experiment 1, two sounds (variants of a sawtooth oscillation) both with the same fundamental frequency (F1: 80 Hz, 240 Hz or 600 Hz) were played with no intervening gap. In each trial, the two sounds’ partials differed in amplitudes or frequencies to produce a timbre change. The sonic manipulations were varied in size to detect thresholds for the perceived timbre change – listeners were instructed to indicate whether or not they perceived a change within the sound. In experiment 2, we modified stimulus presentation to introduce the factor of transition time (TT). Rather than occurring instantaneously (as in experiment 1), the timbre manipulations were introduced gradually over the course of a 100 ms or a 1000 ms TT. Results revealed that PTs were significantly affected by the manipulations in experiment 1, and additionally by TT in experiment 2. Importantly, the data revealed an interaction between the F1 and the timbre manipulations, such that there were differential effects of timbre changes on the perceptual system depending on pitch height. Musicians (n=11) showed significantly smaller PTs compared to non-musicians (n=10). However, PTs for musicians and non-musicians were highly correlated (r=.83) across different sonic manipulations, indicating similar perceptual patterns in both. We hope that by establishing PTs for commonly used timbre manipulations, we can provide musicians with a general perceptual unit, for each manipulation, that can guide music composition and assessment.

scholarly journals The Effect of Context on the Size of the Perceptual Unit Used in Word Recognition

1981 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judythe P. Patberg ◽  
Peter Dewitz ◽  
S. Jay Samuels
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Holistic Processing ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Context Word ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Context Condition ◽  
Good And Poor Readers ◽  
Letter Processing

Good and poor readers from the second and fourth grades read words which varied in length from 3 to 6 letters under three exposure conditions; context, miscue and no-context. Word recognition latency for the nouns in each word length category was recorded. An increase in latency relative to word length would suggest component-letter processing, while no increase would suggest holistic processing. Results indicated that under all conditions poor second grade readers used holistic processing. Poor fourth grade readers used holistic processing with context but component-letter processing in no-context and miscue conditions. These findings suggest that the size of the word recognition unit is sensitive to reader skill and context condition.

scholarly journals Is There a “Gestalt Bias” in Indulgence? Subjectively Constructing Food Units Into Wholes (vs. Parts) Increases Desire to Eat and Actual Consumption

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannick Joye ◽  
Sabrina Bruyneel ◽  
Bob M. Fennis
Keyword(s):  
Size Effect ◽  
Portion Size ◽  
Gestalt Psychology ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Bias Effect ◽  
Desire To Eat ◽  
Food Portions

In the present work we extend research into the unit bias effect and its extension—the portion size effect—by demonstrating the existence of a “Gestalt bias.” Drawing on the tenets of Gestalt psychology, we show that a unit bias effect can be observed for food portions that are composed of identical basic units, but which are subjectively grouped into, or perceived as a Gestalt—a larger whole. In three studies, we find that such subjectively constructed food wholes constitute a new (perceptual) unit that is perceived bigger than the units it is constructed from, thereby prompting increased eating and desire to eat.

Visual Perception by Speechreaders of Selected Syntactic Structures

1975 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-34
Author(s):  
Jo Ann Stewart Fehr ◽  
William D. Trotter
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Sentence Patterns ◽  
Basic Sentence

That the perceptual unit for the comprehension of visually presented speech is syntactic structure was concluded from giving instruments to assess the visual perception of basic sentence patterns and selected transformations to 118 undergraduates.

Analysis of Perspective Reversal and Associated Apparent Motions Using a Perspective-Bound Movement Illusion

1966 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 835-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy B. Mefferd ◽  
Betty A. Wieland ◽  
Thomas H. Cook ◽  
Timothy G. Sadler ◽  
Richard G. Benton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depth Perception ◽  
Vertical Plane ◽  
Apparent Movement ◽  
Perceptual Unit ◽  
Veridical Perception ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Spatial Ordering ◽  
Depth Dimension ◽  
Single Figure

The nature of perspective reversal was examined using among other techniques a previously undescribed movement illusion specific to the non-veridical perception of actual depth. The apparent movement of the illusion proved to be veridical parallax movement displaced spatially. Apparent changes in direction of rotation and apparent oscillation were shown to be consequences of perspective. Objects seen in reversed perspective illustrated spectacularly the size-distance invariance. Detailed analysis revealed that depth perception per se is veridical, and only the apparent relocations of parts are involved in perspective reversal. When a perspective reverses, O misperceives the location of the near and far parts of the object, but those parts “reverse” about the veridical center in situ and on a strictly 1:1 depth basis. Perspective changes occur only at a plane perpendicular to O in the depth dimension—never in the horizontal-vertical plane. Parts of a single figure may reverse independently of others, thereby forming a separate perceptual unit, the configuration of which is determined by O‘s position rather than by properties of the stimulus. More complex figures (e.g., a rectangular prism composed of three cubes), may be perceived as an entire Gestalt, or as various smaller independent units each reversing perspective independently as verified by the movement illusion. The analysis of the nature of perspective reversal suggests that depth perception is composed of at least two processes: first, the perception of absolute depth, and second, the spatial ordering of objects or points on objects. The first process seems not to be related to perspective reversal, but the second seems to be implicated as the critical one. The depth dimension necessarily is represented nonveridically as a flat projection on the retina, while those parts of the visual field that are perpendicular to O are represented veridically. When O “reconstructs” the depth dimension from this flat retinal image (whether the depth is real or only apparent in the stimulus), depending on how he interprets the order of the corresponding parts, he will perceive the object in true or false perspective.

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