Search results for "Visual perception"

Predicting perceived visual complexity of abstract patterns using computational measures: The influence of mirror symmetry on complexity perception

2017

Visual complexity is relevant for many areas ranging from improving usability of technical displays or websites up to understanding aesthetic experiences. Therefore, many attempts have been made to relate objective properties of images to perceived complexity in artworks and other images. It has been argued that visual complexity is a multidimensional construct mainly consisting of two dimensions: A quantitative dimension that increases complexity through number of elements, and a structural dimension representing order negatively related to complexity. The objective of this work is to study human perception of visual complexity utilizing two large independent sets of abstract patterns. A w…

The emergence of a shared action ontology: building blocks for a theory.

2003

To have an ontology is to interpret a world. In this paper we argue that the brain, viewed as a representational system aimed at interpreting our world, possesses an ontology too. It creates primitives and makes existence assumptions. It decomposes target space in a way that exhibits a certain invariance, which in turn is functionally significant. We will investigate which are the functional regularities guiding this decomposition process, by answering to the following questions: What are the explicit and implicit assumptions about the structure of reality, which at the same time shape the causal profile of the brain's motor output and its representational deep structure, in particular of t…

Does letter position coding depend on consonant/vowel status? Evidence with the masked priming technique

2008

Recently, a number of input coding schemes (e.g., SOLAR model, SERIOL model, open-bigram model, overlap model) have been proposed that capture the transposed-letter priming effect (i.e., faster response times for jugde-JUDGE than for jupte-JUDGE). In their current version, these coding schemes do not assume any processing differences between vowels and consonants. However, in a lexical decision task, Perea and Lupker (2004, JML; Lupker, Perea, & Davis, 2008, L&CP) reported that transposed-letter priming effects occurred for consonant transpositions but not for vowel transpositions. This finding poses a challenge for these recently proposed coding schemes. Here, we report four masked priming…

Attention effects on the processing of task-relevant and task-irrelevant speech sounds and letters

2013

We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to study effects of selective attention on the processing of attended and unattended spoken syllables and letters. Participants were presented with syllables randomly occurring in the left or right ear and spoken by different voices and with a concurrent foveal stream of consonant letters written in darker or lighter fonts. During auditory phonological and non-phonological tasks, they responded to syllables in a designated ear starting with a vowel and spoken by female voices, respectively. These syllables occurred infrequently among standard syllables starting with a consonant and spoken by male voices. During visual phonological and non-phonol…

2019

Abstract This article contains intensity and aversiveness ratings of electrical stimuli and data on electrodermal activity (skin conductance level and skin conductance response) during an implicit conditioning procedure. Further, answers from a questionnaire on contingency awareness are provided. The experiment consisted of three phases. In the acquisition, two types of visual stimuli (CS+ and CS-) were coupled to weakly and moderately painful electrical stimuli presented to the participants’ (N = 48) dominant hand. In the test phase, after both CS+ and CS- only the weakly painful electrical stimuli were presented. In the contingency test phase, no more electrical stimuli were presented and…

Modulation of excitatory and inhibitory circuits for visual awareness in the human right parietal cortex.

2005

The balance of specific patterns of excitation and inhibition in critical regions of both hemispheres could be relevant in orienting attention over the extrapersonal space. In the present study a group of normal subjects had to detect small rectangular stimuli presented briefly on a computer screen in three different conditions: unilateral presentation either to left or right visual periphery or bilateral simultaneous presentation. Paired transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), was applied over the right parietal cortex 150 ms after the presentation of the visual stimuli with different inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs: 1, 3,5 and 10 ms). When paired TMS was applied 150 ms, but not 100 ms, af…

Transition from self tilt to object tilt during maintained lateral tilt in parabolic flight.

1991

Abstract 19 young healthy subjects were subjected to parabolic rollercoaster flight. A horizontal luminous line was seen by the subjects in a headfixed goggle device. During the hypergravic phases of parabolic flight the luminous line seemed to rotate into and during the hypogravic phase against the direction of static head tilt. Ocular counter rotation and activity of the neck position receptors cannot explain these subjective rotations. We conclude that information from the otolith system, converging with visual information within the brain, dislocated the headfixed visual target line. While the retinal image of the luminous line remains unchanged, loading and unloading the otoliths in pa…

On the role of consonants and vowels in visual-word processing: Evidence with a letter search paradigm

2010

Prior research has shown that the search function in the visual letter search task may reflect the regularities of the orthographic structure of a given script. In the present experiment, we examined whether the search function of letter detection was sensitive to consonant-vowel status of a pre-cued letter. Participants had to detect the presence/absence of a previously cued letter target (either vowel or consonant) at the initial, central or final position in a five-letter Spanish word or pseudoword. Results showed a significant effect of consonant-vowel status on letter search function which paralleled the orthographic constraints of Spanish. When searching for a consonant, participants …

Cueing complex animations: Does direction of attention foster learning processes?

2011

Abstract The time course of learners’ processing of a complex animation was studied using a dynamic diagram of a piano mechanism. Over successive repetitions of the material, two forms of cueing (standard colour cueing and anti-cueing) were administered either before or during the animated segment of the presentation. An uncued group and two other control conditions were also employed. Development of an internal representation of the movements depicted in the animation was evaluated through participant demonstrations of the mechanism’s operation on a replica piano mechanism. Eye tracking (fixation lengths) indicated that overall, conventional visuospatially-based cueing was largely ineffect…

Is backward disequilibrium in the elderly caused by an abnormal perception of verticality? A pilot study

2007

International audience; OBJECTIVE: We hypothesised that backward disequilibrium (BD), defined by a posterior position of the centre of mass with respect to the base of support, could be caused by a backward tilt in the perception of verticality. METHODS: The relationship between BD, the perception of verticality, and the history of falls in 25 subjects aged 84.5+/-7.4 years was analysed. An original ordinal scale, the BD scale (BDS), was used to quantify BD. Postural (PV) and haptic verticals (HV) were measured in sagittal plane. RESULTS: BDS scores closely correlated with the number of falls (r = 0.81, p =10(-5)). The more the PV was tilted backward, the greater the BDS scores (r = -0.95, …