Posted: April 24th, 2025
Activity-3
Watch my
VIDEOLinks to an external site.
for this week to hear the details about this assignment. There are two parts to it.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99PVqC7hvUI
PART ONE:
Do an internet search to find an example of a corporate logo that integrates the figure/ground concept into its design. (Like the two examples I showed you in my video. HINT: of course, you are not allowed to use the same ones I chose!)
Save a copy of the image and attach it in your response. That’s all there is to this part. Just posting a pic and you’re done with Part One!
PART TWO:
This one might be a little more challenging! After reading about the picture called “The Forest Has Eyes” by Bev Doolittle, and the Gestalt heuristic about the law of familiarity, take a picture of something that you see where you recognize a FACE somewhere in it. Listen to video to hear more detail about this and to see my personal example of the arm chair where part of the fabric seems to me to be a “face.” If you’re like me, maybe you already instantly know something in your house that reminds you of a face. If not, and you’ve never experienced this phenomenon before, try to open up your mind and let your imagination run free!
After you have located something, take a picture of it and post it to this discussion. DON’T tell us where you see the face until everybody has had an opportunity to guess!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBo-PaPnM4k
Chapter 5
Perceiving Objects and Scenes
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Why Is It So Difficult to Design a Perceiving Machine?
The stimulus on the receptors is ambiguous.
Inverse projection problem: an image on the retina can be caused by an infinite number of objects.
Objects can be hidden or blurred.
Occlusions are common in the environment.
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Why Is It So Difficult to Design a Perceiving Machine? (cont’d.)
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Why Is It So Difficult to Design a Perceiving Machine? (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.6 An environmental sculpture by Thomas Macaulay. (a) When viewed from the exact right vantage point (the second-floor balcony of the Blackhawk Mountain School of Art, Black Hawk, Colorado), the stones appear to be arranged in a circle. (b) Viewing the stones from the ground floor reveals a truer indication of their configuration.
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Why Is It So Difficult to Design a Perceiving Machine? (cont’d.)
The stimulus on the receptors is ambiguous.
Inverse projection problem: an image on the retina can be caused by an infinite number of objects.
Objects can be hidden or blurred.
Occlusions are common in the environment.
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Why Is It So Difficult to Design a Perceiving Machine? (cont’d.)
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5.7 A portion of the mess on the author’s desk. Can you locate the hidden pencil (easy) and the author’s glasses (hard)?
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Why Is It So Difficult to Design a Perceiving Machine? (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.8 Who are these people? See page 121 for the answers.
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Why Is It So Difficult to Design a Perceiving Machine? (cont’d.)
Objects look different from different viewpoints.
Viewpoint invariance: the ability to recognize an object regardless of the viewpoint
This is a difficult task for computers to perform.
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Why Is It So Difficult to Design a Perceiving Machine? (cont’d.)
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5.9 Your ability to recognize each of these views as being of the same chair is an example of viewpoint invariance.
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Perceptual Organization
Approach established by Wundt (late 1800s)
States that perceptions are created by combining elements called sensations
Structuralism could not explain apparent movement.
Stimulated the founding of Gestalt psychology in the 1920s by Wertheimer, Koffka, and Kohler
The whole differs from the sum of its parts.
Perception is not built up from sensations, but is a result of perceptual organization.
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Perceptual Organization (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.10 Examples of grouping and segregation in a city scene.
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The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping
Structuralism
Distinguished between sensations and perceptions
Apparent movement
Illusion of movement
Illusory contours
Appear real but have physical edge
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The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.12 According to structuralism, a number of sensations (represented by the dots) add up to create our perception of the face.
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The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping (cont’d.)
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5.11 Some black and white shapes that become perceptually organized into a Dalmatian. See page 121 for an outline of the Dalmatian.
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The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.13 The conditions for creating apparent movement. (a) One light flashes, followed by (b) a short period of darkness, followed by (c) another light flashing in a different position. The resulting perception, symbolized in (d), is a light moving from left to right. Movement is seen between the two lights even though there is only darkness in the space between them.
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The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.15 The illusory contours clearly visible in (b) and (c) cannot be caused by sensations, because there is only white there.
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The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping (cont’d.)
Principles of perceptual organization
Good continuation: connected points resulting in straight or smooth curves belong together.
Lines are seen as following the smoothest path.
Pragnanz: every stimulus is seen as simply as possible.
Similarity: similar things are grouped together.
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The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.16 (a) Rope on the beach. (b) Good continuation helps us perceive the rope as single strand.
The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.17 Good continuation helps us perceive two separate wires, even though they overlap.
The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.17 (a) The Olympic symbol is perceived as five circles, not as the nine shapes in (b).
Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
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Figure 5.18 (a) These dots are perceived as horizontal rows or vertical columns or both. (b) These dots are perceived as vertical columns.
Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization (cont’d.)
Proximity: things that are near to each other are grouped together.
Common fate: things moving in the same direction are grouped together.
Common region: elements in the same region tend to be grouped together.
Uniform connectedness: connected region of visual properties are perceived as single unit.
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.20 This photograph, Waves, by Wilma Hurskainen, was taken at the exact moment that the front of the white water aligned with the white area on the woman’s clothing. Similarity of color causes grouping; differently colored areas of the dress are perceptually grouped with the same colors in the scene. Also notice how the front edge of the water creates grouping by good continuation across the woman’s dress.
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.21 The candles are grouped by proximity to create three separate groups. Can you identify additional Gestalt principles in the patterns on the menorah?
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.22 Grouping by (a) common region and (b) uniform connectedness.
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Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.23 A usual occurrence in the environment: Objects (the men’s legs) are partially hidden by another object (the gray boards). In this example, the men’s legs continue in a straight line and are the same color above and below the boards, so it is highly likely that they continue behind the boards.
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Perceptual Segregation
Figure-ground segregation: determining what part of environment is the figure so that it “stands out” from the background
Properties of figure and ground
The figure is more “thinglike” and more memorable than the ground.
The figure is seen in front of the ground.
The ground is more uniform and extends behind figure.
The contour separating figure from the ground belongs to the figure (border ownership).
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Perceptual Segregation (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.24 A version of Rubin’s reversible face-vase figure.
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Perceptual Segregation (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.25 (a) When the vase is perceived as figure, it is seen in front of a homogeneous dark background. (b) When the faces are seen as figure, they are seen in front of a homogeneous light background.
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Perceiving Scenes and Objects in Scenes
Information within the image determines perception-grouping.
Areas lower in the field of view are more likely to be perceived as a figure.
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Perceiving Scenes and Objects in Scenes (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.26 (a) Stimuli from the Vecera et al. (2002) experiment. (b) Percentage of trials on which lower or left areas were seen as figure.
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Perceiving the Gist of a Scene
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Figure 5.27 The field, in the bottom half of the visual field, is seen as figure. The sky in the upper half of the visual field is seen as ground.
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Perceiving the Gist of a Scene (cont’d.)
Another Gestalt principle: figures are more likely to be perceived on the convex side of borders.
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Peterson and Salvagio’s (2008) Experiment
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Figure 5.28 Stimuli from Peterson and Salvagio’s (2008) experiment: (a) 8-component display; (b) 2-component display; (c) 4-component display. The red squares appeared on different areas on different trials. The subject’s task was to judge whether the area the red square was on was “figure” or “ground.
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Perceiving the Gist of a Scene (cont’d.)
Built-in principles can override experience.
Segregation of figure from ground
Gibson and Peterson experiment
Figure-ground formation can be affected by the meaningfulness of a stimulus.
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Perceiving the Gist of a Scene (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.29(a) W on top of M. (b) When combined, a new pattern emerges, overriding the meaningful letters.
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Perceiving the Gist of a Scene (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.30 Gibson and Peterson’s (1994) stimulus. (a) The black area is more likely to be seen as figure because it is meaningful. (b) This effect does not occur when meaningfulness is decreased by turning the picture upside down.
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Perceiving the Gist of a Scene (cont’d.)
A scene contains:
Background elements
Objects organized in meaningful ways with each other and the background
Difference between objects and scenes
A scene is acted within.
An object is acted upon.
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Perceiving the Gist of a Scene (cont’d.)
Research on perceiving gists of scenes
Potter showed that people can do this when a picture is only presented for 1/4 second.
Fei-Fei used masking to show that the overall gist is perceived first followed by details.
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The instructor can define masking and the term persistence of vision when presenting the slide of the experiment for Fei-Fei. Potter’s experiment can also be explained when the slide is presented.
Perceiving the Gist of a Scene (cont’d.)
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5.32 Procedure for Potter’s (1976) experiment. She first presented either a target photograph or, as shown here, a description, and then rapidly presented 16 pictures for 250 ms each. The observer’s task was to indicate whether the target picture had been presented. In this example, only 3 of the 16 pictures are shown, with the target picture being the second one presented. On some trials, the target picture was not included in the series of 16 pictures.
Perceiving the Gist of a Scene (cont’d.)
Global image features of scenes
Degree of naturalness
Degree of openness
Degree of roughness
Degree of expansion
Color
Such features are holistic and perceived rapidly.
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Perceiving the Gist of a Scene (cont’d.)
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5.34 Three scenes that have different global image properties.
Regularities in the Environment: Information for Perceiving
Physical regularities: regularly occurring physical properties
Oblique effect: people perceive horizontals and vertical more easily than other orientations.
Uniform connectedness: objects are defined by areas of the same color or texture.
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Regularities in the Environment: Information for Perceiving (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.35 In these two scenes from nature, horizontal and vertical orientations are more common than oblique orientations. These scenes are special examples, picked because the large proportion of verticals. However, randomly selected photos of natural scenes also contain more horizontal and vertical orientations than oblique orientations. This also occurs for human-made buildings and objects
Regularities in the Environment: Information for Perceiving (cont’d.)
Physical regularities: regularly occurring physical properties
Homogenous colors and nearby objects have different colors.
Light-from-above heuristic: light in natural environment comes from above us.
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Regularities in the Environment: Information for Perceiving (cont’d.)
Palmer experiment
Observers saw a context scene flashed briefly, followed by a target picture.
Results showed that:
Targets congruent with the context were identified 80% of the time.
Targets that were incongruent were only identified 40% of the time.
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Regularities in the Environment: Information for Perceiving (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.37 Stimuli used in Palmer’s (1975) experiment. The scene at the left is presented first, and the observer is then asked to identify one of the objects on the right.
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Regularities in the Environment: Information for Perceiving (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.38 “Multiple personalities of a blob.” What we expect to see in different contexts influences our interpretation of the identity of the “blob” inside the circles.
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Role of Inference in Perception
Theory of unconscious inference
Created by Helmholtz (1866/1911) to explain why stimuli can be interpreted in more than one way
Likelihood principle: objects are perceived based on what is most likely to have caused the pattern
Modern researchers use Bayesian inference that take probabilities into account.
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Role of Inference in Perception (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.39 The display in (a) is usually interpreted as being (b) a blue rectangle in front of a red rectangle. It could, however, be (c) a blue rectangle and an appropriately positioned six-sided red figure.
Role of Inference in Perception (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.40 These graphs present hypothetical probabilities, to illustrate the principle behind Bayesian inference. (a) Maria’s beliefs about the relative frequency of having a cold, lung disease, and heartburn. These beliefs are her priors. (b) Further data indicate that colds and lung disease are associated with coughing, but heartburn is not. These data contribute to the likelihood. (c) Taking the priors and likelihood together results in the conclusion that Charles’s cough is probably due to a cold.
Connecting Neural Activity and Object Perception
Brain responses to perceiving faces and places
Binocular rivalry
Tong and colleagues (1998) research
Demonstrated that changes in perception and changes in brain activity mirrored each other
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Connecting Neural Activity and Object Perception (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.41 Observers in Tong et al.’s (1998) experiment viewed the overlapping red house and green face through red–green glasses, so the house image was presented to the right eye and the face image to the left eye. Because of binocular rivalry, the observers’ perception alternated back and forth between the face and the house. When the observers perceived the house, activity occurred in the parahippocampal place area (PPA) in the left and right hemispheres (red ellipses). When observers perceived the face, activity occurred in the fusiform face area (FFA) in the left hemisphere (green ellipse).
Spotlight on the Parahippocampal Place Area
When Tong’s subjects perceived the house, parahippocampal area (PPA) became active
Spatial layout hypothesis
Are scenes or places necessary for activation of PPA?
Space defining vs. space ambiguous
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Neural Mind Reading
Using a neural response to determine what a person is perceiving or thinking
Usually by fMRI
Structural encoding
Semantic encoding
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Neural Mind Reading (cont’d.)
Experiment by Kamitani & Tong
Gratings with different orientations were presented to participants.
Responses from fMRI voxels were measured.
Activity patterns across voxels varies by grating orientation.
An orientation decoder was used to analyze the voxel activity.
The decoder could accurately predict which orientation had been presented.
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Neural Mind Reading (cont’d.)
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5.42 (a) Viewing an oriented grating like the one on the left causes a pattern of activation of voxels. The cubes in the brain represent the response of eight voxels. The differences in shading represent the pattern of activation of the orientation being viewed (b) Results of Kamitani and Tong’s (2005) experiment for two orientations. The gratings are the stimuli presented to the observer. The line is the orientation predicted by the decoder. The decoder was able to accurately predict the orientations of all eight of the gratings tested.
Neural Mind Reading (cont’d.)
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5.43 Principle behind neural mind reading. (a) As the subject looks at different orientations, fMRI is used to determine voxel activation patterns for each orientation. (b) A decoder is created based on the voxel patterns collected in (a). (c) As a subject looks at an orientation, the decoder analyzes the voxel pattern recorded from the subject’s visual cortex. Based on this voxel pattern, the decoder predicts the orientation that the subject is observing
Neural Mind Reading (cont’d.)
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5.44 Calibration of Naselaris’s structural decoder. Natural images are presented to a subject, and the way a large number of voxels respond to the features contained in each image is determined. Just three of the images and one voxel are shown here
Neural Mind Reading (cont’d.)
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Figure 5.45 (a) The subject viewed the image in the red square. The structural decoder picked the other three images as the best match from the database of 6 million images. (b) Another image viewed by the subject and the three images picked by structural and semantic decoders as the best matches from the database. (From Naselaris et al., 2009)
Are Faces Special?
Fusiform face area (FFA): responds only to faces
Amygdala (AG): activated by emotional aspects of faces
Superior temporal sulcus (STS): responds to where the person is looking and to mouth movements
Frontal cortex (FC): activated when evaluating facial attractiveness
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Are Faces Special? (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.46 Stimuli for the Meng et al. (2012) experiment: (a) Non-face stimuli that resembled faces, ordered with the most face-like stimuli on the right. (b) Face stimuli. (c) Response of left FFA to non-face and face stimuli. NF05no resemblance to face; NFL=low resemblance; NFH=high resemblance: F =Real faces. Response increases as stimuli become more face-like. (d) Response of right FFA to non-face and face stimuli. Response remains low for all non-face stimuli, but jumps to a higher level for the real face stimuli.
Are Faces Special? (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.46 Stimuli for the Meng et al. (2012) experiment: (a) Non-face stimuli that resembled faces, ordered with the most face-like stimuli on the right. (b) Face stimuli. (c) Response of left FFA to non-face and face stimuli. NF05no resemblance to face; NFL=low resemblance; NFH=high resemblance: F =Real faces. Response increases as stimuli become more face-like. (d) Response of right FFA to non-face and face stimuli. Response remains low for all non-face stimuli, but jumps to a higher level for the real face stimuli.
Are Faces Special? (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.47 (a) Stimuli from Busigny and Rossion’s (2010) experiment in which subjects were presented with a front view of a car or a face and were asked to pick the three-quarter view that was the same car or face. For example, the car on the right in the upper panel is the same car as the one shown in front-view above. (b) Performance for upright cars and faces (blue bars) and inverted cars and faces (orange bars). Notice that inverting the cars has little or no effect on performance but that inverting faces causes performance to decrease from 89 percent to 73 percent.
Are Faces Special? (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.48 Ability to recognize faces of well-known people who were familiar to the subjects. Each type of image (negative and negative with eyes changed to positive) was shown to different groups of subjects, followed by the full-positive image. The subjects’ task was to identify the face (Newt Gingrich in this example). Changing just the eyes in the negative image to positive causes a large increase in performance.
Are Faces Special? (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.49 The human brain, showing some of the areas involved in perceiving faces. See text for the function of each area. Note that the labels indicate a general area of cortex but not the overall extent of an area. Also, the fusiform face area (FFA) is located in the fusiform gyrus, and the amygdala is located deep inside the cortex, approximately under the area indicated her
Infant Face Perception
Understand what an infant sees using preferential looking effect.
Human faces are among the most important stimuli in an infant’s environment.
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Infant Face Perception (cont’d.)
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Figure 5.50 Simulations of perceptions of a mother located 124 inches from an observer, as seen by newborns and various ages
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