Perceptual organization and neural computation (original) (raw)
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Perception, 2005
stand at the window and see a house, trees, sky. Theoretically I might say there were 327 brightnesses and nuances of colour. Do I have``327''? No. I have sky, house, and trees. It is impossible to achieve``327'' as such. And yet even though such droll calculation were possible and implied, say, for the house 120, the trees 90, the sky 117 ö I should at least have this arrangement and division of the total, and not, say, 127 and 100 and 100; or 150 and 177. The concrete division which I see is not determined by some arbitrary mode of organization lying solely within my own pleasure; instead I see the arrangement and division which is given there before me.'' Max Wertheimer (1923) Laws of Organization in Perceptual Forms
Psychophysical Analyses of Perceptual Representations.
1995
Abstract: This report is divided into two parts. The first part describes studies done at the University of Minnesota. The second part describes studies done at the University of Southern California. In both cases, full lists of citations are given to work supported in full or in part by this grant. Because most of these projects have been described in detail in previous reports, the purpose of this final report is to provide summary of the many studies and a complete list of citations.
Theoretical Approaches to Perceptual Organization
Organization
One example should demonstrate the problem. Consider the perception of an ellipse, as shown in Figure 36.1. When we view this pattern in isolation, it is usually perceived" veridically" as an ellipse drawn on paper. But when we view it in the context of a scene, as in Figure 36. Ib, it is now perceived as a circle viewed at an angle. It should be clear that the elliptical pattern presented to the eye could represent either the ellipse of Figure 36. la or a circle. In fact, the distal stimulus might even be a horizontally oriented ellipse (that is, an ...
Two psychologies of perception and the prospect of their synthesis
Two traditions have had a great impact on the theoretical and experimental research of perception. One tradition is statistical, stretching from Fechner's enunciation of psychophysics in 1860 to the modern view of perception as statistical decision making. The other tradition is phenomenological, from Brentano's “empirical standpoint” of 1874 to the Gestalt movement and the modern work on perceptual organization. Each tradition has at its core a distinctive assumption about the indivisible constituents of perception: the just-noticeable differences of sensation in the tradition of Fechner vs. the phenomenological Gestalts in the tradition of Brentano. But some key results from the two traditions can be explained and connected using an approach that is neither statistical nor phenomenological. This approach rests on a basic property of any information exchange: a principle of measurement formulated in 1946 by Gabor as a part of his quantal theory of information. Here the indivisible components are units (quanta) of information that remain invariant under changes of precision of measurement. This approach helped to understand how sensory measurements are implemented by single neural cells. But recent analyses suggest that this approach has the power to explain larger-scale characteristics of sensory systems.
A century of Gestalt psychology in visual perception: II. Conceptual and theoretical foundations
Psychological Bulletin, 2012
In 1912, Max Wertheimer published his paper on phi motion, widely recognized as the start of Gestalt psychology. Because of its continued relevance in modern psychology, this centennial anniversary is an excellent opportunity to take stock of what Gestalt psychology has offered and how it has changed since its inception. We first introduce the key findings and ideas in the Berlin school of Gestalt psychology, and then briefly sketch its development, rise, and fall. Next, we discuss its empirical and conceptual problems, and indicate how they are addressed in contemporary research on perceptual grouping and figure-ground organization. In particular, we review the principles of grouping, both classical (e.g., proximity, similarity, common fate, good continuation, closure, symmetry, parallelism) and new (e.g., synchrony, common region, element and uniform connectedness), and their role in contour integration and completion. We then review classic and new image-based principles of figure-ground organization, how it is influenced by past experience and attention, and how it relates to shape and depth perception. After an integrated review of the neural mechanisms involved in contour grouping, border ownership, and figure-ground perception, we conclude by evaluating what modern vision science has offered compared to traditional Gestalt psychology, whether we can speak of a Gestalt revival, and where the remaining limitations and challenges lie. A better integration of this research tradition with the rest of vision science requires further progress regarding the conceptual and theoretical foundations of the Gestalt approach, which is the focus of a second review article.
On the Dynamic Perceptual Characteristics of Gestalten
Oxford Handbooks Online, 2014
The theoretical applicability of the constructs of configurality, holism, and Gestalten are ubiquitous in perceptual psychology, yet there is a noticeable absence of a generally accepted, unified theory of Gestalt phenomena. Aside from a few quite specific models of performance in some particular sphere, rigorous definitions and quantitative models are scarce. In addition, in the realm of quantitative dynamic information-processing characteristics, definitions, proposed explanations, and derivations regarding concepts of holistic vs non-holistic objects are rare if extant at all. The primary goal of this chapter is to argue for the establishment of a mathematical language within which the properties of strategic concepts that describe and purport to distinguish configural as opposed to nonconfigural perception can be elucidated. We do this in two ways, each of which is intended to compel formal connections among diverse operational concepts, and facilitate the translation to testable experimental hypotheses.
On the structures of perceptual Gestalten
1985
The objects we perceive exhibit structures and properties which are not indigenous to the world as it is in itself. Thus whilst the two horizontal lines in the MiilIer-Lyer illusion are objectively of equal length, they are experienced as being such that one is shorter than the other. There is a distinction between the structure as we experience it, the perceived Gestalt, and the underlying autonomous objectual formation.
Reconciling simplicity and likelihood principles in perceptual organization
Psychological Review, 1996
Two principles of perceptual organization have been proposed. The likelihood principle, following H. L. F. von Helmholtz (1910/1962), proposes that perceptual organization is chosen to correspond to the most likely distal layout. The simplicity principle, following Gestalt psychology, suggests that perceptual organization is chosen to be as simple as possible. The debate between these two views has been a central topic in the study of perceptual organization. Drawing on mathematical results in A. N. Kolmogorov's (1965) complexity theory, the author argues that simplicity and likelihood are not in competition, but are identical. Various implications for the theory of perceptual organization and psychology more generally are outlined.