Size Perception Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The two contrasting theoretical approaches to visual perception, the constructivist and the ecological, are briefly presented and illustrated through their analyses of space and size perception. Earlier calls for their reconciliation and... more

The two contrasting theoretical approaches to visual perception, the constructivist and the ecological, are briefly presented and illustrated through their analyses of space and size perception. Earlier calls for their reconciliation and unification are reviewed. Neurophysiological, neuropsychological, and psychophysical evidence for the existence of two quite distinct visual systems, the ventral and the dorsal, is presented. These two perceptual systems differ in their functions; the ventral system's central function is that of identification, while the dorsal system is mainly engaged in the visual control of motor behavior. The strong parallels between the ecological approach and the functioning of the dorsal system, and between the constructivist approach and the functioning of the ventral system are noted. It is also shown that the experimental paradigms used by the proponents of these two approaches match the functions of the respective visual systems. A dual-process approa...

Previous research has shown that changes to the body can influence the perception of distances in near space (Witt et al 2005). In this paper, we question whether changes to the body can also influence the perception of extents in... more

Previous research has shown that changes to the body can influence the perception of distances in near space (Witt et al 2005). In this paper, we question whether changes to the body can also influence the perception of extents in extrapersonal space, namely the perception of aperture widths. In experiment 1, broad-shouldered participants visually estimated the size of apertures to be smaller than narrow-shouldered participants. In experiment 2, we questioned whether changes to the body, which included holding a ...

The colors, textures, and shapes of shadows are physically constrained in several ways in natural scenes. The visual system appears to ignore these constraints, however, and to accept many patterns as shadows even though they could not... more

The colors, textures, and shapes of shadows are physically constrained in several ways in natural scenes. The visual system appears to ignore these constraints, however, and to accept many patterns as shadows even though they could not occur naturally. In the stimuli that we ...

Practically all foods contain particles. It has been suggested that the presence of particles in food may affect the perception of sensory attributes. In the present study we investigated the effect of size and type (hardness and shape)... more

Practically all foods contain particles. It has been suggested that the presence of particles in food may affect the perception of sensory attributes. In the present study we investigated the effect of size and type (hardness and shape) of particles added to a CMC based vanilla custard dessert. The two types of particles included in the study were silica dioxide

We report a perception-action dissociation in the behavior of normally developing young children. In adults and older children, the perception of an object and the organization of actions on it are seamlessly integrated. However, as... more

We report a perception-action dissociation in the behavior of normally developing young children. In adults and older children, the perception of an object and the organization of actions on it are seamlessly integrated. However, as documented here, 18- to 30-month-old children sometimes fail to use information about object size and make serious attempts to perform impossible actions on miniature objects. They try, for example, to sit in a dollhouse chair or to get into a small toy car. We interpret scale errors as reflecting problems with inhibitory control and with the integration of visual information for perception and action.

Contrast thresholds for 75% correct depth identification in narrow-band filtered random dot stereograms were determined for different center spatial frequencies and binocular disparities. Rigorous control over vergence was maintained... more

Contrast thresholds for 75% correct depth identification in narrow-band filtered random dot stereograms were determined for different center spatial frequencies and binocular disparities. Rigorous control over vergence was maintained during testing, and a forced-choice procedure was used. The resulting contrast sensitivity function for stereopsis revealed sensitivity over a greater range of disparities at low than at high spatial frequencies. Sensitivity peaked for large disparities at low spatial frequencies and for small disparities at high spatial frequencies. When disparities were converted to effective binocular phase differences, the variation of contrast sensitivity with phase followed a consistent pattern across spatial frequencies, with peak sensitivity occurring mainly for binocular phases of between 90 degrees and 180 degrees. These results have implications for the extent of spatial integration at the input to the disparity sensing mechanism. A model postulating a spread of positional disparities independent of the spatial frequency selectivity of disparity-sensitive units cannot account for the results. But the size-disparity correlation strongly evident in our data is predicted by certain models of stereopsis, such as phase disparity encoding. An ideal observer analysis is developed that demonstrates that our results were not forced by the nature of the stimulus employed; rather, the quantum efficiency for stereopsis at contrast threshold follows the size-disparity correlation.

The size congruity effect (SiCE) shows that number and physical size interact as magnitudes. That is, response times are faster when number and size are congruent (e.g., 2 4) than when they are incongruent (e.g., 2 4). A shared... more

The size congruity effect (SiCE) shows that number and physical size interact as magnitudes. That is, response times are faster when number and size are congruent (e.g., 2 4) than when they are incongruent (e.g., 2 4). A shared representational system has been the most influential account for the SiCE. Recently, this account has been challenged by findings showing that the SiCE may be influenced by attention. The attentional contribution to the SiCE suggests that the effect is produced by an attention capture effect to the larger stimulus. Even though plausible, the attentional account overlooks 2 important factors in the study of magnitudes, namely, task (numerical vs. physical) and polarity of instructions (choose the larger vs. the smaller). We studied the influence of these factors using a size congruity task. Experiment 1 showed that the SiCE was modulated by task and instructions. In Experiment 2, we used a new set of numbers to examine a possible influence of the so-called en...