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Baltaretu BR, Schuetz I, Võ MLH, Fiehler K. Scene semantics affects allocentric spatial coding for action in naturalistic (virtual) environments. Sci Rep 2024; 14:15549. [PMID: 38969745 PMCID: PMC11226608 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66428-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Interacting with objects in our environment requires determining their locations, often with respect to surrounding objects (i.e., allocentrically). According to the scene grammar framework, these usually small, local objects are movable within a scene and represent the lowest level of a scene's hierarchy. How do higher hierarchical levels of scene grammar influence allocentric coding for memory-guided actions? Here, we focused on the effect of large, immovable objects (anchors) on the encoding of local object positions. In a virtual reality study, participants (n = 30) viewed one of four possible scenes (two kitchens or two bathrooms), with two anchors connected by a shelf, onto which were presented three local objects (congruent with one anchor) (Encoding). The scene was re-presented (Test) with 1) local objects missing and 2) one of the anchors shifted (Shift) or not (No shift). Participants, then, saw a floating local object (target), which they grabbed and placed back on the shelf in its remembered position (Response). Eye-tracking data revealed that both local objects and anchors were fixated, with preference for local objects. Additionally, anchors guided allocentric coding of local objects, despite being task-irrelevant. Overall, anchors implicitly influence spatial coding of local object locations for memory-guided actions within naturalistic (virtual) environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bianca R Baltaretu
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10F, 35394, Giessen, Hesse, Germany.
| | - Immo Schuetz
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10F, 35394, Giessen, Hesse, Germany
| | - Melissa L-H Võ
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60323, Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany
| | - Katja Fiehler
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10F, 35394, Giessen, Hesse, Germany
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2
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Schuetz I, Baltaretu BR, Fiehler K. Where was this thing again? Evaluating methods to indicate remembered object positions in virtual reality. J Vis 2024; 24:10. [PMID: 38995109 PMCID: PMC11246095 DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.7.10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/13/2024] Open
Abstract
A current focus in sensorimotor research is the study of human perception and action in increasingly naturalistic tasks and visual environments. This is further enabled by the recent commercial success of virtual reality (VR) technology, which allows for highly realistic but well-controlled three-dimensional (3D) scenes. VR enables a multitude of different ways to interact with virtual objects, but only rarely are such interaction techniques evaluated and compared before being selected for a sensorimotor experiment. Here, we compare different response techniques for a memory-guided action task, in which participants indicated the position of a previously seen 3D object in a VR scene: pointing, using a virtual laser pointer of short or unlimited length, and placing, either the target object itself or a generic reference cube. Response techniques differed in availability of 3D object cues and requirement to physically move to the remembered object position by walking. Object placement was the most accurate but slowest due to repeated repositioning. When placing objects, participants tended to match the original object's orientation. In contrast, the laser pointer was fastest but least accurate, with the short pointer showing a good speed-accuracy compromise. Our findings can help researchers in selecting appropriate methods when studying naturalistic visuomotor behavior in virtual environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Immo Schuetz
- Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
| | | | - Katja Fiehler
- Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
- Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Philipps University Marburg and Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
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3
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Williams JR, Störmer VS. Cutting Through the Noise: Auditory Scenes and Their Effects on Visual Object Processing. Psychol Sci 2024; 35:814-824. [PMID: 38889285 DOI: 10.1177/09567976241237737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Despite the intuitive feeling that our visual experience is coherent and comprehensive, the world is full of ambiguous and indeterminate information. Here we explore how the visual system might take advantage of ambient sounds to resolve this ambiguity. Young adults (ns = 20-30) were tasked with identifying an object slowly fading in through visual noise while a task-irrelevant sound played. We found that participants demanded more visual information when the auditory object was incongruent with the visual object compared to when it was not. Auditory scenes, which are only probabilistically related to specific objects, produced similar facilitation even for unheard objects (e.g., a bench). Notably, these effects traverse categorical and specific auditory and visual-processing domains as participants performed across-category and within-category visual tasks, underscoring cross-modal integration across multiple levels of perceptual processing. To summarize, our study reveals the importance of audiovisual interactions to support meaningful perceptual experiences in naturalistic settings.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Viola S Störmer
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College
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4
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Walter K, Freeman M, Bex P. Quantifying task-related gaze. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024; 86:1318-1329. [PMID: 38594445 PMCID: PMC11093728 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-024-02883-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
Competing theories attempt to explain what guides eye movements when exploring natural scenes: bottom-up image salience and top-down semantic salience. In one study, we apply language-based analyses to quantify the well-known observation that task influences gaze in natural scenes. Subjects viewed ten scenes as if they were performing one of two tasks. We found that the semantic similarity between the task and the labels of objects in the scenes captured the task-dependence of gaze (t(39) = 13.083; p < 0.001). In another study, we examined whether image salience or semantic salience better predicts gaze during a search task, and if viewing strategies are affected by searching for targets of high or low semantic relevance to the scene. Subjects searched 100 scenes for a high- or low-relevance object. We found that image salience becomes a worse predictor of gaze across successive fixations, while semantic salience remains a consistent predictor (X2(1, N=40) = 75.148, p < .001). Furthermore, we found that semantic salience decreased as object relevance decreased (t(39) = 2.304; p = .027). These results suggest that semantic salience is a useful predictor of gaze during task-related scene viewing, and that even in target-absent trials, gaze is modulated by the relevance of a search target to the scene in which it might be located.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kerri Walter
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Michelle Freeman
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Peter Bex
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
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5
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Beitner J, Helbing J, David EJ, Võ MLH. Using a flashlight-contingent window paradigm to investigate visual search and object memory in virtual reality and on computer screens. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8596. [PMID: 38615047 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-58941-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/15/2024] Open
Abstract
A popular technique to modulate visual input during search is to use gaze-contingent windows. However, these are often rather discomforting, providing the impression of visual impairment. To counteract this, we asked participants in this study to search through illuminated as well as dark three-dimensional scenes using a more naturalistic flashlight with which they could illuminate the rooms. In a surprise incidental memory task, we tested the identities and locations of objects encountered during search. Importantly, we tested this study design in both immersive virtual reality (VR; Experiment 1) and on a desktop-computer screen (Experiment 2). As hypothesized, searching with a flashlight increased search difficulty and memory usage during search. We found a memory benefit for identities of distractors in the flashlight condition in VR but not in the computer screen experiment. Surprisingly, location memory was comparable across search conditions despite the enormous difference in visual input. Subtle differences across experiments only appeared in VR after accounting for previous recognition performance, hinting at a benefit of flashlight search in VR. Our findings highlight that removing visual information does not necessarily impair location memory, and that screen experiments using virtual environments can elicit the same major effects as VR setups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Beitner
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
| | - Jason Helbing
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Erwan Joël David
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- LIUM, Le Mans Université, Le Mans, France
| | - Melissa Lê-Hoa Võ
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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6
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Wise T, Emery K, Radulescu A. Naturalistic reinforcement learning. Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:144-158. [PMID: 37777463 PMCID: PMC10878983 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 10/02/2023]
Abstract
Humans possess a remarkable ability to make decisions within real-world environments that are expansive, complex, and multidimensional. Human cognitive computational neuroscience has sought to exploit reinforcement learning (RL) as a framework within which to explain human decision-making, often focusing on constrained, artificial experimental tasks. In this article, we review recent efforts that use naturalistic approaches to determine how humans make decisions in complex environments that better approximate the real world, providing a clearer picture of how humans navigate the challenges posed by real-world decisions. These studies purposely embed elements of naturalistic complexity within experimental paradigms, rather than focusing on simplification, generating insights into the processes that likely underpin humans' ability to navigate complex, multidimensional real-world environments so successfully.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toby Wise
- Department of Neuroimaging, King's College London, London, UK.
| | - Kara Emery
- Center for Data Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Angela Radulescu
- Center for Computational Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY, USA
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7
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Megla E, Rosenthal SR, Bainbridge WA. Drawings reveal changes in object memory, but not spatial memory, across time. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.26.577281. [PMID: 38352427 PMCID: PMC10862701 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.26.577281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/21/2024]
Abstract
Time has an immense influence on our memory. Truncated encoding leads to memory for only the 'gist' of an image, and long delays before recall result in generalized memories with few details. Here, we used crowdsourced scoring of hundreds of drawings made from memory after variable encoding (Experiment 1) and retentions of that memory (Experiment 2) to quantify what features of memory content change across time. We found that whereas some features of memory are highly dependent on time, such as the proportion of objects recalled from a scene and false recall for objects not in the original image, spatial memory was highly accurate and relatively independent of time. We also found that we could predict which objects were recalled across time based on the location, meaning, and saliency of the objects. The differential impact of time on object and spatial memory supports a separation of these memory systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Megla
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA
| | | | - Wilma A. Bainbridge
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA
- Neuroscience Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL USA
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8
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A-Izzeddin EJ, Mattingley JB, Harrison WJ. The influence of natural image statistics on upright orientation judgements. Cognition 2024; 242:105631. [PMID: 37820487 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2022] [Revised: 09/24/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
Humans have well-documented priors for many features present in nature that guide visual perception. Despite being putatively grounded in the statistical regularities of the environment, scene priors are frequently violated due to the inherent variability of visual features from one scene to the next. However, these repeated violations do not appreciably challenge visuo-cognitive function, necessitating the broad use of priors in conjunction with context-specific information. We investigated the trade-off between participants' internal expectations formed from both longer-term priors and those formed from immediate contextual information using a perceptual inference task and naturalistic stimuli. Notably, our task required participants to make perceptual inferences about naturalistic images using their own internal criteria, rather than making comparative judgements. Nonetheless, we show that observers' performance is well approximated by a model that makes inferences using a prior for low-level image statistics, aggregated over many images. We further show that the dependence on this prior is rapidly re-weighted against contextual information, even when misleading. Our results therefore provide insight into how apparent high-level interpretations of scene appearances follow from the most basic of perceptual processes, which are grounded in the statistics of natural images.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily J A-Izzeddin
- Queensland Brain Institute, Building 79, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
| | - Jason B Mattingley
- Queensland Brain Institute, Building 79, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia; School of Psychology, Building 24A, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - William J Harrison
- Queensland Brain Institute, Building 79, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia; School of Psychology, Building 24A, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
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9
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Zhou Z, Geng JJ. Learned associations serve as target proxies during difficult but not easy visual search. Cognition 2024; 242:105648. [PMID: 37897882 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2023] [Revised: 10/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/30/2023]
Abstract
The target template contains information in memory that is used to guide attention during visual search and is typically thought of as containing features of the actual target object. However, when targets are hard to find, it is advantageous to use other information in the visual environment that is predictive of the target's location to help guide attention. The purpose of these studies was to test if newly learned associations between face and scene category images lead observers to use scene information as a proxy for the face target. Our results showed that scene information was used as a proxy for the target to guide attention but only when the target face was difficult to discriminate from the distractor face; when the faces were easy to distinguish, attention was no longer guided by the scene unless the scene was presented earlier. The results suggest that attention is flexibly guided by both target features as well as features of objects that are predictive of the target location. The degree to which each contributes to guiding attention depends on the efficiency with which that information can be used to decode the location of the target in the current moment. The results contribute to the view that attentional guidance is highly flexible in its use of information to rapidly locate the target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiheng Zhou
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, 267 Cousteau Place, Davis, CA 95618, USA.
| | - Joy J Geng
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, 267 Cousteau Place, Davis, CA 95618, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
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10
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Fooken J, Baltaretu BR, Barany DA, Diaz G, Semrau JA, Singh T, Crawford JD. Perceptual-Cognitive Integration for Goal-Directed Action in Naturalistic Environments. J Neurosci 2023; 43:7511-7522. [PMID: 37940592 PMCID: PMC10634571 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1373-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 08/15/2023] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 11/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Real-world actions require one to simultaneously perceive, think, and act on the surrounding world, requiring the integration of (bottom-up) sensory information and (top-down) cognitive and motor signals. Studying these processes involves the intellectual challenge of cutting across traditional neuroscience silos, and the technical challenge of recording data in uncontrolled natural environments. However, recent advances in techniques, such as neuroimaging, virtual reality, and motion tracking, allow one to address these issues in naturalistic environments for both healthy participants and clinical populations. In this review, we survey six topics in which naturalistic approaches have advanced both our fundamental understanding of brain function and how neurologic deficits influence goal-directed, coordinated action in naturalistic environments. The first part conveys fundamental neuroscience mechanisms related to visuospatial coding for action, adaptive eye-hand coordination, and visuomotor integration for manual interception. The second part discusses applications of such knowledge to neurologic deficits, specifically, steering in the presence of cortical blindness, impact of stroke on visual-proprioceptive integration, and impact of visual search and working memory deficits. This translational approach-extending knowledge from lab to rehab-provides new insights into the complex interplay between perceptual, motor, and cognitive control in naturalistic tasks that are relevant for both basic and clinical research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jolande Fooken
- Centre for Neuroscience, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L3N6, Canada
| | - Bianca R Baltaretu
- Department of Psychology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, 35394, Germany
| | - Deborah A Barany
- Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia, and Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership, Athens, Georgia 30602
| | - Gabriel Diaz
- Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623
| | - Jennifer A Semrau
- Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19713
| | - Tarkeshwar Singh
- Department of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
| | - J Douglas Crawford
- Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
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11
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Martarelli CS, Chiquet S, Ertl M. Keeping track of reality: embedding visual memory in natural behaviour. Memory 2023; 31:1295-1305. [PMID: 37727126 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2023.2260148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023]
Abstract
Since immersive virtual reality (IVR) emerged as a research method in the 1980s, the focus has been on the similarities between IVR and actual reality. In this vein, it has been suggested that IVR methodology might fill the gap between laboratory studies and real life. IVR allows for high internal validity (i.e., a high degree of experimental control and experimental replicability), as well as high external validity by letting participants engage with the environment in an almost natural manner. Despite internal validity being crucial to experimental designs, external validity also matters in terms of the generalizability of results. In this paper, we first highlight and summarise the similarities and differences between IVR, desktop situations (both non-immersive VR and computer experiments), and reality. In the second step, we propose that IVR is a promising tool for visual memory research in terms of investigating the representation of visual information embedded in natural behaviour. We encourage researchers to carry out experiments on both two-dimensional computer screens and in immersive virtual environments to investigate visual memory and validate and replicate the findings. IVR is valuable because of its potential to improve theoretical understanding and increase the psychological relevance of the findings.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sandra Chiquet
- Faculty of Psychology, UniDistance Suisse, Brig, Switzerland
| | - Matthias Ertl
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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12
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Kallmayer A, Võ MLH, Draschkow D. Viewpoint dependence and scene context effects generalize to depth rotated three-dimensional objects. J Vis 2023; 23:9. [PMID: 37707802 PMCID: PMC10506680 DOI: 10.1167/jov.23.10.9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Viewpoint effects on object recognition interact with object-scene consistency effects. While recognition of objects seen from "noncanonical" viewpoints (e.g., a cup from below) is typically impeded compared to processing of objects seen from canonical viewpoints (e.g., the string-side of a guitar), this effect is reduced by meaningful scene context information. In the present study we investigated if these findings established by using photographic images, generalize to strongly noncanonical orientations of three-dimensional (3D) models of objects. Using 3D models allowed us to probe a broad range of viewpoints and empirically establish viewpoints with very strong noncanonical and canonical orientations. In Experiment 1, we presented 3D models of objects from six different viewpoints (0°, 60°, 120°, 180° 240°, 300°) in color (1a) and grayscaled (1b) in a sequential matching task. Viewpoint had a significant effect on accuracy and response times. Based on the viewpoint effect in Experiments 1a and 1b, we could empirically determine the most canonical and noncanonical viewpoints from our set of viewpoints to use in Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, participants again performed a sequential matching task, however now the objects were paired with scene backgrounds which could be either consistent (e.g., a cup in the kitchen) or inconsistent (e.g., a guitar in the bathroom) to the object. Viewpoint interacted significantly with scene consistency in that object recognition was less affected by viewpoint when consistent scene information was provided, compared to inconsistent information. Our results show that scene context supports object recognition even when using extremely noncanonical orientations of depth rotated 3D objects. This supports the important role object-scene processing plays for object constancy especially under conditions of high uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aylin Kallmayer
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Melissa L-H Võ
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Dejan Draschkow
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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13
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Hanning NM, Deubel H. A dynamic 1/f noise protocol to assess visual attention without biasing perceptual processing. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:2583-2594. [PMID: 35915360 PMCID: PMC10439027 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01916-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Psychophysical paradigms measure visual attention via localized test items to which observers must react or whose features have to be discriminated. These items, however, potentially interfere with the intended measurement, as they bias observers' spatial and temporal attention to their location and presentation time. Furthermore, visual sensitivity for conventional test items naturally decreases with retinal eccentricity, which prevents direct comparison of central and peripheral attention assessments. We developed a stimulus that overcomes these limitations. A brief oriented discrimination signal is seamlessly embedded into a continuously changing 1/f noise field, such that observers cannot anticipate potential test locations or times. Using our new protocol, we demonstrate that local orientation discrimination accuracy for 1/f filtered signals is largely independent of retinal eccentricity. Moreover, we show that items present in the visual field indeed shape the distribution of visual attention, suggesting that classical studies investigating the spatiotemporal dynamics of visual attention via localized test items may have obtained a biased measure. We recommend our protocol as an efficient method to evaluate the behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of attentional orienting across space and time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina M Hanning
- Allgemeine und Experimentelle Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
- Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Heiner Deubel
- Allgemeine und Experimentelle Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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14
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Greene MR, Trivedi D. Spatial Scene Memories Are Biased Towards a Fixed Amount of Semantic Information. Open Mind (Camb) 2023; 7:445-459. [PMID: 37637297 PMCID: PMC10449403 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 06/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Scene memory has known spatial biases. Boundary extension is a well-known bias whereby observers remember visual information beyond an image's boundaries. While recent studies demonstrate that boundary contraction also reliably occurs based on intrinsic image properties, the specific properties that drive the effect are unknown. This study assesses the extent to which scene memory might have a fixed capacity for information. We assessed both visual and semantic information in a scene database using techniques from image processing and natural language processing, respectively. We then assessed how both types of information predicted memory errors for scene boundaries using a standard rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) forced error paradigm. A linear regression model indicated that memories for scene boundaries were significantly predicted by semantic, but not visual, information and that this effect persisted when scene depth was considered. Boundary extension was observed for images with low semantic information, and contraction was observed for images with high semantic information. This suggests a cognitive process that normalizes the amount of semantic information held in memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle R. Greene
- Bates College, Program in Neuroscience
- Barnard College, Columbia University
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15
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Barker M, Rehrig G, Ferreira F. Speakers prioritise affordance-based object semantics in scene descriptions. LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE 2023; 38:1045-1067. [PMID: 37841974 PMCID: PMC10572038 DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2023.2190136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
This work investigates the linearisation strategies used by speakers when describing real-world scenes to better understand production plans for multi-utterance sequences. In this study, 30 participants described real-world scenes aloud. To investigate which semantic features of scenes predict order of mention, we quantified three features (meaning, graspability, and interactability) using two techniques (whole-object ratings and feature map values). We found that object-level semantic features, namely those affordance-based, predicted order of mention in a scene description task. Our findings provide the first evidence for an object-related semantic feature that guides linguistic ordering decisions and offer theoretical support for the role of object semantics in scene viewing and description.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Barker
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
| | - G. Rehrig
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
| | - F. Ferreira
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
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16
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Active visual search in naturalistic environments reflects individual differences in classic visual search performance. Sci Rep 2023; 13:631. [PMID: 36635491 PMCID: PMC9837148 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-27896-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Visual search is a ubiquitous activity in real-world environments. Yet, traditionally, visual search is investigated in tightly controlled paradigms, where head-restricted participants locate a minimalistic target in a cluttered array that is presented on a computer screen. Do traditional visual search tasks predict performance in naturalistic settings, where participants actively explore complex, real-world scenes? Here, we leverage advances in virtual reality technology to test the degree to which classic and naturalistic search are limited by a common factor, set size, and the degree to which individual differences in classic search behavior predict naturalistic search behavior in a large sample of individuals (N = 75). In a naturalistic search task, participants looked for an object within their environment via a combination of head-turns and eye-movements using a head-mounted display. Then, in a classic search task, participants searched for a target within a simple array of colored letters using only eye-movements. In each task, we found that participants' search performance was impacted by increases in set size-the number of items in the visual display. Critically, we observed that participants' efficiency in classic search tasks-the degree to which set size slowed performance-indeed predicted efficiency in real-world scenes. These results demonstrate that classic, computer-based visual search tasks are excellent models of active, real-world search behavior.
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Moskowitz JB, Berger SA, Fooken J, Castelhano MS, Gallivan JP, Flanagan JR. The influence of movement-related costs when searching to act and acting to search. J Neurophysiol 2023; 129:115-130. [PMID: 36475897 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00305.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Real-world search behavior often involves limb movements, either during search or after search. Here we investigated whether movement-related costs influence search behavior in two kinds of search tasks. In our visual search tasks, participants made saccades to find a target object among distractors and then moved a cursor, controlled by the handle of a robotic manipulandum, to the target. In our manual search tasks, participants moved the cursor to perform the search, placing it onto objects to reveal their identity as either a target or a distractor. In all tasks, there were multiple targets. Across experiments, we manipulated either the effort or time costs associated with movement such that these costs varied across the search space. We varied effort by applying different resistive forces to the handle, and we varied time costs by altering the speed of the cursor. Our analysis of cursor and eye movements during manual and visual search, respectively, showed that effort influenced manual search but did not influence visual search. In contrast, time costs influenced both visual and manual search. Our results demonstrate that, in addition to perceptual and cognitive factors, movement-related costs can also influence search behavior.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Numerous studies have investigated the perceptual and cognitive factors that influence decision making about where to look, or move, in search tasks. However, little is known about how search is influenced by movement-related costs associated with acting on an object once it has been visually located or acting during manual search. In this article, we show that movement time costs can bias visual and manual search and that movement effort costs bias manual search.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua B Moskowitz
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sarah A Berger
- Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jolande Fooken
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Monica S Castelhano
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jason P Gallivan
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - J Randall Flanagan
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
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Quilty-Dunn J, Porot N, Mandelbaum E. The best game in town: The reemergence of the language-of-thought hypothesis across the cognitive sciences. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 46:e261. [PMID: 36471543 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22002849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Mental representations remain the central posits of psychology after many decades of scrutiny. However, there is no consensus about the representational format(s) of biological cognition. This paper provides a survey of evidence from computational cognitive psychology, perceptual psychology, developmental psychology, comparative psychology, and social psychology, and concludes that one type of format that routinely crops up is the language-of-thought (LoT). We outline six core properties of LoTs: (i) discrete constituents; (ii) role-filler independence; (iii) predicate-argument structure; (iv) logical operators; (v) inferential promiscuity; and (vi) abstract content. These properties cluster together throughout cognitive science. Bayesian computational modeling, compositional features of object perception, complex infant and animal reasoning, and automatic, intuitive cognition in adults all implicate LoT-like structures. Instead of regarding LoT as a relic of the previous century, researchers in cognitive science and philosophy-of-mind must take seriously the explanatory breadth of LoT-based architectures. We grant that the mind may harbor many formats and architectures, including iconic and associative structures as well as deep-neural-network-like architectures. However, as computational/representational approaches to the mind continue to advance, classical compositional symbolic structures - that is, LoTs - only prove more flexible and well-supported over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jake Quilty-Dunn
- Department of Philosophy and Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA. , sites.google.com/site/jakequiltydunn/
| | - Nicolas Porot
- Africa Institute for Research in Economics and Social Sciences, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Rabat, Morocco. , nicolasporot.com
| | - Eric Mandelbaum
- Departments of Philosophy and Psychology, The Graduate Center & Baruch College, CUNY, New York, NY, USA. , ericmandelbaum.com
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Hierarchical organization of objects in scenes is reflected in mental representations of objects. Sci Rep 2022; 12:20068. [PMID: 36418411 PMCID: PMC9684142 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24505-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 11/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The arrangement of objects in scenes follows certain rules ("Scene Grammar"), which we exploit to perceive and interact efficiently with our environment. We have proposed that Scene Grammar is hierarchically organized: scenes are divided into clusters of objects ("phrases", e.g., the sink phrase); within every phrase, one object ("anchor", e.g., the sink) holds strong predictions about identity and position of other objects ("local objects", e.g., a toothbrush). To investigate if this hierarchy is reflected in the mental representations of objects, we collected pairwise similarity judgments for everyday object pictures and for the corresponding words. Similarity judgments were stronger not only for object pairs appearing in the same scene, but also object pairs appearing within the same phrase of the same scene as opposed to appearing in different phrases of the same scene. Besides, object pairs with the same status in the scenes (i.e., being both anchors or both local objects) were judged as more similar than pairs of different status. Comparing effects between pictures and words, we found similar, significant impact of scene hierarchy on the organization of mental representation of objects, independent of stimulus modality. We conclude that the hierarchical structure of visual environment is incorporated into abstract, domain general mental representations of the world.
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Lukashova-Sanz O, Agarwala R, Wahl S. Context matters during pick-and-place in VR: Impact on search and transport phases. Front Psychol 2022; 13:881269. [PMID: 36160516 PMCID: PMC9493493 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.881269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
When considering external assistive systems for people with motor impairments, gaze has been shown to be a powerful tool as it is anticipatory to motor actions and is promising for understanding intentions of an individual even before the action. Up until now, the vast majority of studies investigating the coordinated eye and hand movement in a grasping task focused on single objects manipulation without placing them in a meaningful scene. Very little is known about the impact of the scene context on how we manipulate objects in an interactive task. In the present study, it was investigated how the scene context affects human object manipulation in a pick-and-place task in a realistic scenario implemented in VR. During the experiment, participants were instructed to find the target object in a room, pick it up, and transport it to a predefined final location. Thereafter, the impact of the scene context on different stages of the task was examined using head and hand movement, as well as eye tracking. As the main result, the scene context had a significant effect on the search and transport phases, but not on the reach phase of the task. The present work provides insights into the development of potential supporting intention predicting systems, revealing the dynamics of the pick-and-place task behavior once it is realized in a realistic context-rich scenario.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Lukashova-Sanz
- Zeiss Vision Science Lab, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Carl Zeiss Vision International Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH), Aalen, Germany
- *Correspondence: Olga Lukashova-Sanz
| | - Rajat Agarwala
- Zeiss Vision Science Lab, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Siegfried Wahl
- Zeiss Vision Science Lab, Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Carl Zeiss Vision International Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH), Aalen, Germany
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Helbing J, Draschkow D, L-H Võ M. Auxiliary Scene-Context Information Provided by Anchor Objects Guides Attention and Locomotion in Natural Search Behavior. Psychol Sci 2022; 33:1463-1476. [PMID: 35942922 DOI: 10.1177/09567976221091838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Successful adaptive behavior requires efficient attentional and locomotive systems. Previous research has thoroughly investigated how we achieve this efficiency during natural behavior by exploiting prior knowledge related to targets of our actions (e.g., attending to metallic targets when looking for a pot) and to the environmental context (e.g., looking for the pot in the kitchen). Less is known about whether and how individual nontarget components of the environment support natural behavior. In our immersive virtual reality task, 24 adult participants searched for objects in naturalistic scenes in which we manipulated the presence and arrangement of large, static objects that anchor predictions about targets (e.g., the sink provides a prediction for the location of the soap). Our results show that gaze and body movements in this naturalistic setting are strongly guided by these anchors. These findings demonstrate that objects auxiliary to the target are incorporated into the representations guiding attention and locomotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason Helbing
- Scene Grammar Lab, Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt
| | - Dejan Draschkow
- Brain and Cognition Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford.,Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford
| | - Melissa L-H Võ
- Scene Grammar Lab, Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt
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22
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Sensory Perception Mechanism for Preparing the Combinations of Stimuli Operation in the Architectural Experience. SUSTAINABILITY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/su14137885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Sensory stimuli in an architectural space play an important role in the human perception of the indoor environment, no matter whether they are static or dynamic, isolated, or combined. By enhancing some perceptions in the sensory stimuli, the overall perceptions of an architectural space can be improved, especially for an intelligent architectural space. As yet, there are few studies reported about the sensory perception mechanism for the sensory stimuli operation in the architectural experience. In this research, a wooden micro building was prepared for the study of the sensitivity level of participants to various sensory stimuli in the same and in different sensory domains. Participants’ visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and kinaesthesia perceptions were discussed statistically in terms of the sensitivity level. Based on the study, the effect of a single dynamic sensory stimulus (a dynamically coloured light) on the participants’ perception was studied in a paper architectural model from two aspects including preference and emotion. The dynamically coloured light was discussed statistically in terms of the level of preference. The study showed that there are significant differences among participants’ levels of sensitivity to the different sensory domains and to the different sensory stimuli. In particular, the sensitivity level to the stimulus that is the colour of a space is the highest of all stimuli. As a single changing sensory stimulus, a dynamically coloured light can lead to significant mood fluctuations and changes in the preference level. In particular, yellow is the favourite colour of light. The object of this study is expected to provide a theoretical foundation that is related to sensory choice, sensory perception enhancement and the combination forms of sensory perceptions. Based on the theoretical foundation, the perception design of overlapped multi-sensory stimuli and a single dynamic stimulus can be conducted to improve the quality of the indoor environment of normal and intelligent multi-sensory architecture.
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Wolfe B, Sawyer BD, Rosenholtz R. Toward a Theory of Visual Information Acquisition in Driving. HUMAN FACTORS 2022; 64:694-713. [PMID: 32678682 PMCID: PMC9136385 DOI: 10.1177/0018720820939693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2019] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to describe information acquisition theory, explaining how drivers acquire and represent the information they need. BACKGROUND While questions of what drivers are aware of underlie many questions in driver behavior, existing theories do not directly address how drivers in particular and observers in general acquire visual information. Understanding the mechanisms of information acquisition is necessary to build predictive models of drivers' representation of the world and can be applied beyond driving to a wide variety of visual tasks. METHOD We describe our theory of information acquisition, looking to questions in driver behavior and results from vision science research that speak to its constituent elements. We focus on the intersection of peripheral vision, visual attention, and eye movement planning and identify how an understanding of these visual mechanisms and processes in the context of information acquisition can inform more complete models of driver knowledge and state. RESULTS We set forth our theory of information acquisition, describing the gap in understanding that it fills and how existing questions in this space can be better understood using it. CONCLUSION Information acquisition theory provides a new and powerful way to study, model, and predict what drivers know about the world, reflecting our current understanding of visual mechanisms and enabling new theories, models, and applications. APPLICATION Using information acquisition theory to understand how drivers acquire, lose, and update their representation of the environment will aid development of driver assistance systems, semiautonomous vehicles, and road safety overall.
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Abstract
Peripheral vision is fundamental for many real-world tasks, including walking, driving, and aviation. Nonetheless, there has been no effort to connect these applied literatures to research in peripheral vision in basic vision science or sports science. To close this gap, we analyzed 60 relevant papers, chosen according to objective criteria. Applied research, with its real-world time constraints, complex stimuli, and performance measures, reveals new functions of peripheral vision. Peripheral vision is used to monitor the environment (e.g., road edges, traffic signs, or malfunctioning lights), in ways that differ from basic research. Applied research uncovers new actions that one can perform solely with peripheral vision (e.g., steering a car, climbing stairs). An important use of peripheral vision is that it helps compare the position of one’s body/vehicle to objects in the world. In addition, many real-world tasks require multitasking, and the fact that peripheral vision provides degraded but useful information means that tradeoffs are common in deciding whether to use peripheral vision or move one’s eyes. These tradeoffs are strongly influenced by factors like expertise, age, distraction, emotional state, task importance, and what the observer already knows. These tradeoffs make it hard to infer from eye movements alone what information is gathered from peripheral vision and what tasks we can do without it. Finally, we recommend three ways in which basic, sport, and applied science can benefit each other’s methodology, furthering our understanding of peripheral vision more generally.
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Draschkow D, Nobre AC, van Ede F. Multiple spatial frames for immersive working memory. Nat Hum Behav 2022; 6:536-544. [PMID: 35058640 PMCID: PMC7612679 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01245-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
As we move around, relevant information that disappears from sight can still be held in working memory to serve upcoming behaviour. How we maintain and select visual information as we move through the environment remains poorly understood because most laboratory tasks of working memory rely on removing visual material while participants remain still. We used virtual reality to study visual working memory following self-movement in immersive environments. Directional biases in gaze revealed the recruitment of more than one spatial frame for maintaining and selecting memoranda following self-movement. The findings bring the important realization that multiple spatial frames support working memory in natural behaviour. The results also illustrate how virtual reality can be a critical experimental tool to characterize this core memory system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dejan Draschkow
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Anna C Nobre
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Freek van Ede
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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26
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Helo A, Guerra E, Coloma CJ, Aravena-Bravo P, Rämä P. Do Children With Developmental Language Disorder Activate Scene Knowledge to Guide Visual Attention? Effect of Object-Scene Inconsistencies on Gaze Allocation. Front Psychol 2022; 12:796459. [PMID: 35069387 PMCID: PMC8776641 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.796459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Our visual environment is highly predictable in terms of where and in which locations objects can be found. Based on visual experience, children extract rules about visual scene configurations, allowing them to generate scene knowledge. Similarly, children extract the linguistic rules from relatively predictable linguistic contexts. It has been proposed that the capacity of extracting rules from both domains might share some underlying cognitive mechanisms. In the present study, we investigated the link between language and scene knowledge development. To do so, we assessed whether preschool children (age range = 5;4–6;6) with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), who present several difficulties in the linguistic domain, are equally attracted to object-scene inconsistencies in a visual free-viewing task in comparison with age-matched children with Typical Language Development (TLD). All children explored visual scenes containing semantic (e.g., soap on a breakfast table), syntactic (e.g., bread on the chair back), or both inconsistencies (e.g., soap on the chair back). Since scene knowledge interacts with image properties (i.e., saliency) to guide gaze allocation during visual exploration from the early stages of development, we also included the objects’ saliency rank in the analysis. The results showed that children with DLD were less attracted to semantic and syntactic inconsistencies than children with TLD. In addition, saliency modulated syntactic effect only in the group of children with TLD. Our findings indicate that children with DLD do not activate scene knowledge to guide visual attention as efficiently as children with TLD, especially at the syntactic level, suggesting a link between scene knowledge and language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Helo
- Departamento de Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Departamento de Neurociencias, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación, Instituto de Educación-IE, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Ernesto Guerra
- Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación, Instituto de Educación-IE, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Carmen Julia Coloma
- Departamento de Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación, Instituto de Educación-IE, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Paulina Aravena-Bravo
- Departamento de Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Pia Rämä
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (UMR 8002), CNRS, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
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David EJ, Beitner J, Võ MLH. The importance of peripheral vision when searching 3D real-world scenes: A gaze-contingent study in virtual reality. J Vis 2021; 21:3. [PMID: 34251433 PMCID: PMC8287039 DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.7.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual search in natural scenes is a complex task relying on peripheral vision to detect potential targets and central vision to verify them. The segregation of the visual fields has been particularly established by on-screen experiments. We conducted a gaze-contingent experiment in virtual reality in order to test how the perceived roles of central and peripheral visions translated to more natural settings. The use of everyday scenes in virtual reality allowed us to study visual attention by implementing a fairly ecological protocol that cannot be implemented in the real world. Central or peripheral vision was masked during visual search, with target objects selected according to scene semantic rules. Analyzing the resulting search behavior, we found that target objects that were not spatially constrained to a probable location within the scene impacted search measures negatively. Our results diverge from on-screen studies in that search performances were only slightly affected by central vision loss. In particular, a central mask did not impact verification times when the target was grammatically constrained to an anchor object. Our findings demonstrates that the role of central vision (up to 6 degrees of eccentricities) in identifying objects in natural scenes seems to be minor, while the role of peripheral preprocessing of targets in immersive real-world searches may have been underestimated by on-screen experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erwan Joël David
- Department of Psychology, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany.,
| | - Julia Beitner
- Department of Psychology, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany.,
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Kristjánsson Á, Draschkow D. Keeping it real: Looking beyond capacity limits in visual cognition. Atten Percept Psychophys 2021; 83:1375-1390. [PMID: 33791942 PMCID: PMC8084831 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-021-02256-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Research within visual cognition has made tremendous strides in uncovering the basic operating characteristics of the visual system by reducing the complexity of natural vision to artificial but well-controlled experimental tasks and stimuli. This reductionist approach has for example been used to assess the basic limitations of visual attention, visual working memory (VWM) capacity, and the fidelity of visual long-term memory (VLTM). The assessment of these limits is usually made in a pure sense, irrespective of goals, actions, and priors. While it is important to map out the bottlenecks our visual system faces, we focus here on selected examples of how such limitations can be overcome. Recent findings suggest that during more natural tasks, capacity may be higher than reductionist research suggests and that separable systems subserve different actions, such as reaching and looking, which might provide important insights about how pure attentional or memory limitations could be circumvented. We also review evidence suggesting that the closer we get to naturalistic behavior, the more we encounter implicit learning mechanisms that operate "for free" and "on the fly." These mechanisms provide a surprisingly rich visual experience, which can support capacity-limited systems. We speculate whether natural tasks may yield different estimates of the limitations of VWM, VLTM, and attention, and propose that capacity measurements should also pass the real-world test within naturalistic frameworks. Our review highlights various approaches for this and suggests that our understanding of visual cognition will benefit from incorporating the complexities of real-world cognition in experimental approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Árni Kristjánsson
- School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.
- School of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
| | - Dejan Draschkow
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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29
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Rehrig GL, Cheng M, McMahan BC, Shome R. Why are the batteries in the microwave?: Use of semantic information under uncertainty in a search task. COGNITIVE RESEARCH-PRINCIPLES AND IMPLICATIONS 2021; 6:32. [PMID: 33855644 PMCID: PMC8046897 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-021-00294-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
A major problem in human cognition is to understand how newly acquired information and long-standing beliefs about the environment combine to make decisions and plan behaviors. Over-dependence on long-standing beliefs may be a significant source of suboptimal decision-making in unusual circumstances. While the contribution of long-standing beliefs about the environment to search in real-world scenes is well-studied, less is known about how new evidence informs search decisions, and it is unclear whether the two sources of information are used together optimally to guide search. The present study expanded on the literature on semantic guidance in visual search by modeling a Bayesian ideal observer's use of long-standing semantic beliefs and recent experience in an active search task. The ability to adjust expectations to the task environment was simulated using the Bayesian ideal observer, and subjects' performance was compared to ideal observers that depended on prior knowledge and recent experience to varying degrees. Target locations were either congruent with scene semantics, incongruent with what would be expected from scene semantics, or random. Half of the subjects were able to learn to search for the target in incongruent locations over repeated experimental sessions when it was optimal to do so. These results suggest that searchers can learn to prioritize recent experience over knowledge of scenes in a near-optimal fashion when it is beneficial to do so, as long as the evidence from recent experience was learnable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gwendolyn L Rehrig
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
| | - Michelle Cheng
- School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore
| | - Brian C McMahan
- Department of Computer Science, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, New Brunswick, USA
| | - Rahul Shome
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, USA
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30
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Conci M, Zellin M. Stimulus-driven updating of long-term context memories in visual search. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:252-267. [PMID: 33496847 PMCID: PMC8821408 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01474-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 01/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Visual search for a target is faster when the spatial layout of nontarget items is repeatedly encountered, illustrating that learned contextual invariances can improve attentional selection (contextual cueing). This type of contextual learning is usually relatively efficient, but relocating the target to an unexpected location (within otherwise unchanged layouts) typically abolishes contextual cueing. Here, we explored whether bottom-up attentional guidance can mediate the efficient contextual adaptation after the change. Two experiments presented an initial learning phase, followed by a subsequent relocation phase that introduced target location changes. This location change was accompanied by transient attention-guiding signals that either up-modulated the changed target location (Experiment 1), or which provided an inhibitory tag to down-modulate the initial target location (Experiment 2). The results from these two experiments showed reliable contextual cueing both before and after the target location change. By contrast, an additional control experiment (Experiment 3) that did not present any attention-guiding signals together with the changed target showed no reliable cueing in the relocation phase, thus replicating previous findings. This pattern of results suggests that attentional guidance (by transient stimulus-driven facilitatory and inhibitory signals) enhances the flexibility of long-term contextual learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus Conci
- Allgemeine und Experimentelle Psychologie, Department Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802, Munich, Germany.
| | - Martina Zellin
- Allgemeine und Experimentelle Psychologie, Department Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802, Munich, Germany
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31
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Võ MLH. The meaning and structure of scenes. Vision Res 2021; 181:10-20. [PMID: 33429218 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2020.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2019] [Revised: 10/31/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
We live in a rich, three dimensional world with complex arrangements of meaningful objects. For decades, however, theories of visual attention and perception have been based on findings generated from lines and color patches. While these theories have been indispensable for our field, the time has come to move on from this rather impoverished view of the world and (at least try to) get closer to the real thing. After all, our visual environment consists of objects that we not only look at, but constantly interact with. Having incorporated the meaning and structure of scenes, i.e. its "grammar", then allows us to easily understand objects and scenes we have never encountered before. Studying this grammar provides us with the fascinating opportunity to gain new insights into the complex workings of attention, perception, and cognition. In this review, I will discuss how the meaning and the complex, yet predictive structure of real-world scenes influence attention allocation, search, and object identification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Le-Hoa Võ
- Department of Psychology, Johann Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany. https://www.scenegrammarlab.com/
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32
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Beitner J, Helbing J, Draschkow D, Võ MLH. Get Your Guidance Going: Investigating the Activation of Spatial Priors for Efficient Search in Virtual Reality. Brain Sci 2021; 11:44. [PMID: 33406655 PMCID: PMC7823740 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11010044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2020] [Revised: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 12/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Repeated search studies are a hallmark in the investigation of the interplay between memory and attention. Due to a usually employed averaging, a substantial decrease in response times occurring between the first and second search through the same search environment is rarely discussed. This search initiation effect is often the most dramatic decrease in search times in a series of sequential searches. The nature of this initial lack of search efficiency has thus far remained unexplored. We tested the hypothesis that the activation of spatial priors leads to this search efficiency profile. Before searching repeatedly through scenes in VR, participants either (1) previewed the scene, (2) saw an interrupted preview, or (3) started searching immediately. The search initiation effect was present in the latter condition but in neither of the preview conditions. Eye movement metrics revealed that the locus of this effect lies in search guidance instead of search initiation or decision time, and was beyond effects of object learning or incidental memory. Our study suggests that upon visual processing of an environment, a process of activating spatial priors to enable orientation is initiated, which takes a toll on search time at first, but once activated it can be used to guide subsequent searches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Beitner
- Scene Grammar Lab, Institute of Psychology, Goethe University, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; (J.H.); (M.L.-H.V.)
| | - Jason Helbing
- Scene Grammar Lab, Institute of Psychology, Goethe University, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; (J.H.); (M.L.-H.V.)
| | - Dejan Draschkow
- Brain and Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK;
| | - Melissa L.-H. Võ
- Scene Grammar Lab, Institute of Psychology, Goethe University, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; (J.H.); (M.L.-H.V.)
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33
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When Natural Behavior Engages Working Memory. Curr Biol 2020; 31:869-874.e5. [PMID: 33278355 PMCID: PMC7902904 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2020] [Revised: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Working memory (WM) enables temporary storage and manipulation of information,1 supporting tasks that require bridging between perception and subsequent behavior. Its properties, such as its capacity, have been thoroughly investigated in highly controlled laboratory tasks.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Much less is known about the utilization and properties of WM in natural behavior,9, 10, 11 when reliance on WM emerges as a natural consequence of interactions with the environment. We measured the trade-off between reliance on WM and gathering information externally during immersive behavior in an adapted object-copying task.12 By manipulating the locomotive demands required for task completion, we could investigate whether and how WM utilization changed as gathering information from the environment became more effortful. Reliance on WM was lower than WM capacity measures in typical laboratory tasks. A clear trade-off also occurred. As sampling information from the environment required increasing locomotion and time investment, participants relied more on their WM representations. This reliance on WM increased in a shallow and linear fashion and was associated with longer encoding durations. Participants’ avoidance of WM usage showcases a fundamental dependence on external information during ecological behavior, even if the potentially storable information is well within the capacity of the cognitive system. These foundational findings highlight the importance of using immersive tasks to understand how cognitive processes unfold within natural behavior. Our novel VR approach effectively combines the ecological validity, experimental rigor, and sensitive measures required to investigate the interplay between memory and perception in immersive behavior. Video Abstract
Gaze provides a measure of working-memory (WM) usage during natural behavior Natural reliance on WM is low even when searching for objects externally is effortful WM utilization increases linearly as searching for objects requires more locomotion The trade-off between using WM versus external sampling affects performance
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34
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Boettcher SEP, van Ede F, Nobre AC. Functional biases in attentional templates from associative memory. J Vis 2020; 20:7. [PMID: 33296459 PMCID: PMC7729124 DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.13.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In everyday life, attentional templates—which facilitate the perception of task-relevant sensory inputs—are often based on associations in long-term memory. We ask whether templates retrieved from memory are necessarily faithful reproductions of the encoded information or if associative-memory templates can be functionally adapted after retrieval in service of current task demands. Participants learned associations between four shapes and four colored gratings, each with a characteristic combination of color (green or pink) and orientation (left or right tilt). On each trial, observers saw one shape followed by a grating and indicated whether the pair matched the learned shape-grating association. Across experimental blocks, we manipulated the types of nonmatch (lure) gratings most often presented. In some blocks the lures were most likely to differ in color but not tilt, whereas in other blocks this was reversed. If participants functionally adapt the retrieved template such that the distinguishing information between lures and targets is prioritized, then they should overemphasize the most commonly diagnostic feature dimension within the template. We found evidence for this in the behavioral responses to the lures: participants were more accurate and faster when responding to common versus rare lures, as predicted by the functional—but not the strictly veridical—template hypothesis. This shows that templates retrieved from memory can be functionally biased to optimize task performance in a flexible, context-dependent, manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sage E P Boettcher
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,
| | - Freek van Ede
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,
| | - Anna C Nobre
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,
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35
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Castelhano MS, Krzyś K. Rethinking Space: A Review of Perception, Attention, and Memory in Scene Processing. Annu Rev Vis Sci 2020; 6:563-586. [PMID: 32491961 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-vision-121219-081745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Scene processing is fundamentally influenced and constrained by spatial layout and spatial associations with objects. However, semantic information has played a vital role in propelling our understanding of real-world scene perception forward. In this article, we review recent advances in assessing how spatial layout and spatial relations influence scene processing. We examine the organization of the larger environment and how we take full advantage of spatial configurations independently of semantic information. We demonstrate that a clear differentiation of spatial from semantic information is necessary to advance research in the field of scene processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monica S Castelhano
- Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada;
| | - Karolina Krzyś
- Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada;
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36
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Kristjánsson T, Draschkow D, Pálsson Á, Haraldsson D, Jónsson PÖ, Kristjánsson Á. Moving foraging into three dimensions: Feature- versus conjunction-based foraging in virtual reality. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2020; 75:313-327. [PMID: 32519926 DOI: 10.1177/1747021820937020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Visual attention evolved in a three-dimensional (3D) world, yet studies on human attention in three dimensions are sparse. Here we present findings from a human foraging study in immersive 3D virtual reality. We used a foraging task introduced in Kristjánsson et al. to examine how well their findings generalise to more naturalistic settings. The second goal was to examine what effect the motion of targets and distractors has on inter-target times (ITTs), run patterns, and foraging organisation. Observers foraged for 50 targets among 50 distractors in four different conditions. Targets were distinguished from distractors by either a single feature (feature foraging) or a conjunction of features (conjunction foraging). Furthermore, those conditions were performed both with static and moving targets and distractors. Our results replicate previous foraging studies in many aspects, with constant ITTs during a "cruise-phase" within foraging trials and response time peaks at the end of foraging trials. Some key differences emerged, however, such as more frequent switches between target types during conjunction foraging than previously seen and a lack of clear mid-peaks during conjunction foraging, possibly reflecting that differences between feature and conjunction processing are smaller within 3D environments. Observers initiated their foraging in the bottom part of the visual field and motion did not have much of an effect on selection times between different targets (ITTs) or run behaviour patterns except for the end-peaks. Our results cast new light upon visual attention in 3D environments and highlight how 3D virtual reality studies can provide important extensions to two-dimensional studies of visual attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tómas Kristjánsson
- Icelandic Vision Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
| | - Dejan Draschkow
- Department of Psychiatry, Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Ágúst Pálsson
- Icelandic Vision Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
| | - Davíð Haraldsson
- Icelandic Vision Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
| | - Pétur Örn Jónsson
- Icelandic Vision Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
| | - Árni Kristjánsson
- Icelandic Vision Laboratory, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.,School of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
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37
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Wolfe B, Fridman L, Kosovicheva A, Seppelt B, Mehler B, Reimer B, Rosenholtz R. Predicting road scenes from brief views of driving video. J Vis 2020; 19:8. [PMID: 31063581 DOI: 10.1167/19.5.8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
If a vehicle is driving itself and asks the driver to take over, how much time does the driver need to comprehend the scene and respond appropriately? Previous work on natural-scene perception suggests that observers quickly acquire the gist, but gist-level understanding may not be sufficient to enable action. The moving road environment cannot be studied with static images alone, and safe driving requires anticipating future events. We performed two experiments to examine how quickly subjects could perceive the road scenes they viewed and make predictions based on their mental representations of the scenes. In both experiments, subjects performed a temporal-order prediction task, in which they viewed brief segments of road video and indicated which of two still frames would come next after the end of the video. By varying the duration of the previewed video clip, we determined the viewing duration required for accurate prediction of recorded road scenes. We performed an initial experiment on Mechanical Turk to explore the space, and a follow-up experiment in the lab to address questions of road type and stimulus discriminability. Our results suggest that representations which enable prediction can be developed from brief views of a road scene, and that different road environments (e.g., city versus highway driving) have a significant impact on the viewing durations drivers require to make accurate predictions of upcoming scenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Wolfe
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Lex Fridman
- AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Anna Kosovicheva
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Bobbie Seppelt
- AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Bruce Mehler
- AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Bryan Reimer
- AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Ruth Rosenholtz
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
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38
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Cimminella F, Sala SD, Coco MI. Extra-foveal Processing of Object Semantics Guides Early Overt Attention During Visual Search. Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 82:655-670. [PMID: 31792893 PMCID: PMC7246246 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01906-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
Eye-tracking studies using arrays of objects have demonstrated that some high-level processing of object semantics can occur in extra-foveal vision, but its role on the allocation of early overt attention is still unclear. This eye-tracking visual search study contributes novel findings by examining the role of object-to-object semantic relatedness and visual saliency on search responses and eye-movement behaviour across arrays of increasing size (3, 5, 7). Our data show that a critical object was looked at earlier and for longer when it was semantically unrelated than related to the other objects in the display, both when it was the search target (target-present trials) and when it was a target's semantically related competitor (target-absent trials). Semantic relatedness effects manifested already during the very first fixation after array onset, were consistently found for increasing set sizes, and were independent of low-level visual saliency, which did not play any role. We conclude that object semantics can be extracted early in extra-foveal vision and capture overt attention from the very first fixation. These findings pose a challenge to models of visual attention which assume that overt attention is guided by the visual appearance of stimuli, rather than by their semantics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Cimminella
- Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy.
| | - Sergio Della Sala
- Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Moreno I Coco
- Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
- School of Psychology, The University of East London, London, UK.
- Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
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39
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Helbing J, Draschkow D, Võ MLH. Search superiority: Goal-directed attentional allocation creates more reliable incidental identity and location memory than explicit encoding in naturalistic virtual environments. Cognition 2020; 196:104147. [PMID: 32004760 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2019] [Revised: 11/19/2019] [Accepted: 11/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
We use representations and expectations formed during life-long learning to support attentional allocation and perception. In comparison to traditional laboratory investigations, real-world memory formation is usually achieved without explicit instruction and on-the-fly as a by-product of natural interactions with our environment. Understanding this process and the quality of naturally formed representations is critical to understanding how memory is used to guide attention and perception. Utilizing immersive, navigable, and realistic virtual environments, we investigated incidentally generated memory representations by comparing them to memories for items which were explicitly memorized. Participants either searched for objects embedded in realistic indoor environments or explicitly memorized them for follow-up identity and location memory tests. We show for the first time that memory for the identity of naturalistic objects and their location in 3D space is higher after incidental encoding compared to explicit memorization, even though the subsequent memory tests came as a surprise to participants. Relating gaze behavior to memory performance revealed that encoding time was more predictive of subsequent memory when participants explicitly memorized an item, compared to incidentally encoding it. Our results suggest that the active nature of guiding attentional allocation during proactive behavior allows for behaviorally optimal formation and utilization of representations. This highlights the importance of investigating cognition under ecologically valid conditions and shows that understanding the most natural processes for encoding and maintaining information is critical for understanding adaptive behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason Helbing
- Scene Grammar Lab, Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Dejan Draschkow
- Scene Grammar Lab, Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
| | - Melissa L-H Võ
- Scene Grammar Lab, Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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40
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Williams CC. Looking for your keys: The interaction of attention, memory, and eye movements in visual search. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.plm.2020.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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41
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Võ MLH, Boettcher SEP, Draschkow D. Reading scenes: how scene grammar guides attention and aids perception in real-world environments. Curr Opin Psychol 2019; 29:205-210. [DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2018] [Revised: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 03/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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42
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Kaiser D, Quek GL, Cichy RM, Peelen MV. Object Vision in a Structured World. Trends Cogn Sci 2019; 23:672-685. [PMID: 31147151 PMCID: PMC7612023 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.04.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Revised: 04/15/2019] [Accepted: 04/30/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
In natural vision, objects appear at typical locations, both with respect to visual space (e.g., an airplane in the upper part of a scene) and other objects (e.g., a lamp above a table). Recent studies have shown that object vision is strongly adapted to such positional regularities. In this review we synthesize these developments, highlighting that adaptations to positional regularities facilitate object detection and recognition, and sharpen the representations of objects in visual cortex. These effects are pervasive across various types of high-level content. We posit that adaptations to real-world structure collectively support optimal usage of limited cortical processing resources. Taking positional regularities into account will thus be essential for understanding efficient object vision in the real world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Kaiser
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Genevieve L Quek
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Radoslaw M Cichy
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Marius V Peelen
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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43
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Abstract
It is widely accepted that features and locations are represented independently in an initial stage of visual processing. But to what degree are they represented separately at a later stage, after objects enter visual working memory (VWM)? In one of her last studies on VWM, Treisman raised an open question about how people represent locations in VWM, suggesting that locations may be remembered independently of what occupies them. Using photographs of real-world objects, we tested the independence of location memory from object identity in a location change detection task. We introduced changes to object identities between the encoding and test arrays, but instructed participants to treat the objects as placeholders. Three experiments showed that location memory was disrupted when the placeholders changed shape or orientation. The disruption was more noticeable for elongated than for round placeholders and was comparable between real-world objects and rectangles of similar aspect ratio. These findings suggest that location representation is sensitive to the placeholders' geometric properties. Though they contradict the idea that objects are just placeholders in location working memory (WM), the findings support Treisman's proposal that the items in VWM are bound to the global configuration of the memory array.
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44
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Karimpur H, Morgenstern Y, Fiehler K. Facilitation of allocentric coding by virtue of object-semantics. Sci Rep 2019; 9:6263. [PMID: 31000759 PMCID: PMC6472393 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-42735-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 04/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
In the field of spatial coding it is well established that we mentally represent objects for action not only relative to ourselves, egocentrically, but also relative to other objects (landmarks), allocentrically. Several factors facilitate allocentric coding, for example, when objects are task-relevant or constitute stable and reliable spatial configurations. What is unknown, however, is how object-semantics facilitate the formation of these spatial configurations and thus allocentric coding. Here we demonstrate that (i) we can quantify the semantic similarity of objects and that (ii) semantically similar objects can serve as a cluster of landmarks that are allocentrically coded. Participants arranged a set of objects based on their semantic similarity. These arrangements were then entered into a similarity analysis. Based on the results, we created two semantic classes of objects, natural and man-made, that we used in a virtual reality experiment. Participants were asked to perform memory-guided reaching movements toward the initial position of a target object in a scene while either semantically congruent or incongruent landmarks were shifted. We found that the reaching endpoints systematically deviated in the direction of landmark shift. Importantly, this effect was stronger for shifts of semantically congruent landmarks. Our findings suggest that object-semantics facilitate allocentric coding by creating stable spatial configurations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harun Karimpur
- Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.
| | | | - Katja Fiehler
- Experimental Psychology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
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45
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Greene MR. The information content of scene categories. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.plm.2019.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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46
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Boettcher SEP, Draschkow D, Dienhart E, Võ MLH. Anchoring visual search in scenes: Assessing the role of anchor objects on eye movements during visual search. J Vis 2018; 18:11. [DOI: 10.1167/18.13.11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Dejan Draschkow
- Department of Psychology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Eric Dienhart
- Department of Psychology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Melissa L.-H. Võ
- Department of Psychology, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany
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47
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Draschkow D, Heikel E, Võ MLH, Fiebach CJ, Sassenhagen J. No evidence from MVPA for different processes underlying the N300 and N400 incongruity effects in object-scene processing. Neuropsychologia 2018; 120:9-17. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.09.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2018] [Revised: 09/18/2018] [Accepted: 09/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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48
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Typical retinotopic locations impact the time course of object coding. Neuroimage 2018; 176:372-379. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2018] [Revised: 04/30/2018] [Accepted: 05/01/2018] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
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49
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Wijntjes MWA, Rosenholtz R. Context mitigates crowding: Peripheral object recognition in real-world images. Cognition 2018; 180:158-164. [PMID: 30055337 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2017] [Revised: 06/19/2018] [Accepted: 06/20/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Object recognition is often conceived of as proceeding by segmenting an object from its surround, then integrating its features. In turn, peripheral vision's sensitivity to clutter, known as visual crowding, has been framed as due to a failure to restrict that integration to features belonging to the object. We hand-segment objects from their background, and find that rather than helping peripheral recognition, this impairs it when compared to viewing the object in its real-world context. Context is in fact so important that it alone (no visible target object) is just as informative, in our experiments, as seeing the object alone. Finally, we find no advantage to separately viewing the context and segmented object. These results, taken together, suggest that we should not think of recognition as ideally operating on pre-segmented objects, nor of crowding as the failure to do so.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maarten W A Wijntjes
- Perceptual Intelligence Lab, Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.
| | - Ruth Rosenholtz
- Dept. of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, CSAIL, MIT, United States
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50
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Typical visual-field locations facilitate access to awareness for everyday objects. Cognition 2018; 180:118-122. [PMID: 30029067 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2018] [Revised: 07/10/2018] [Accepted: 07/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
In real-world vision, humans are constantly confronted with complex environments that contain a multitude of objects. These environments are spatially structured, so that objects have different likelihoods of appearing in specific parts of the visual space. Our massive experience with such positional regularities prompts the hypothesis that the processing of individual objects varies in efficiency across the visual field: when objects are encountered in their typical locations (e.g., we are used to seeing lamps in the upper visual field and carpets in the lower visual field), they should be more efficiently perceived than when they are encountered in atypical locations (e.g., a lamp in the lower visual field and a carpet in the upper visual field). Here, we provide evidence for this hypothesis by showing that typical positioning facilitates an object's access to awareness. In two continuous flash suppression experiments, objects more efficiently overcame inter-ocular suppression when they were presented in visual-field locations that matched their typical locations in the environment, as compared to non-typical locations. This finding suggests that through extensive experience the visual system has adapted to the statistics of the environment. This adaptation may be particularly useful for rapid object individuation in natural scenes.
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