Ian P. Howard and Brian J. Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195367607
- eISBN:
- 9780199867264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367607.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
Many psychophysical and analytic procedures have been used to investigate the visual perception of depth. This chapter provides a general introduction to these procedures. Topics discussed include ...
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Many psychophysical and analytic procedures have been used to investigate the visual perception of depth. This chapter provides a general introduction to these procedures. Topics discussed include psychophysics; the applications of psychophysics; an analysis of linear and nonlinear systems; control theory; time series; Bayesian inference; and concepts of geometry.Less
Many psychophysical and analytic procedures have been used to investigate the visual perception of depth. This chapter provides a general introduction to these procedures. Topics discussed include psychophysics; the applications of psychophysics; an analysis of linear and nonlinear systems; control theory; time series; Bayesian inference; and concepts of geometry.
Pat Rabbitt (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199228768
- eISBN:
- 9780191696336
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199228768.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
Psychology is a comparatively young science. From its origins in the psychophysics laboratories of late-19th-century Germany, it made great strides throughout the 20th century, and can now be ...
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Psychology is a comparatively young science. From its origins in the psychophysics laboratories of late-19th-century Germany, it made great strides throughout the 20th century, and can now be considered one of the most rapidly growing of the sciences, as evidenced by the enormous growth at both undergraduate and research level. This book takes a step back to consider just how we got to where we are in psychology. It brings together some of the leading figures from the past fifty years, covering neuropsychology, social psychology, experimental psychology, perception, physiology, and many others. Each chapter considers the path each field has taken — both the advances, and the setbacks. They look at how each area has changed — how it might have been ‘in vogue’ one day, and out of fashion the next. The accounts provide a stock-take of just where psychology stands at the start of the 21st century, and where it might be heading in the coming years.Less
Psychology is a comparatively young science. From its origins in the psychophysics laboratories of late-19th-century Germany, it made great strides throughout the 20th century, and can now be considered one of the most rapidly growing of the sciences, as evidenced by the enormous growth at both undergraduate and research level. This book takes a step back to consider just how we got to where we are in psychology. It brings together some of the leading figures from the past fifty years, covering neuropsychology, social psychology, experimental psychology, perception, physiology, and many others. Each chapter considers the path each field has taken — both the advances, and the setbacks. They look at how each area has changed — how it might have been ‘in vogue’ one day, and out of fashion the next. The accounts provide a stock-take of just where psychology stands at the start of the 21st century, and where it might be heading in the coming years.
Adrienne Lehrer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195307931
- eISBN:
- 9780199867493
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307931.003.0012
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics
Much progress has been made in the psychophysics of taste and smell. Gas chromatography has enabled scientist to determine even trace amount of aroma compounds in wine. Functional magnetic resonance ...
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Much progress has been made in the psychophysics of taste and smell. Gas chromatography has enabled scientist to determine even trace amount of aroma compounds in wine. Functional magnetic resonance imaging provides information on neural activity in the cortex. Differences in individual sensitivity in tasting and smelling wine has long been known, but recent research shows that everyone has a unique tasting and smelling profile. Some disagreements among wine tasters may occur because they do not perceive a wine identically. Although women outperform men in olfactory and gustatory discrimination, wine experts have historically been men, and experienced tasters discriminate wines better than inexperienced tasters.Less
Much progress has been made in the psychophysics of taste and smell. Gas chromatography has enabled scientist to determine even trace amount of aroma compounds in wine. Functional magnetic resonance imaging provides information on neural activity in the cortex. Differences in individual sensitivity in tasting and smelling wine has long been known, but recent research shows that everyone has a unique tasting and smelling profile. Some disagreements among wine tasters may occur because they do not perceive a wine identically. Although women outperform men in olfactory and gustatory discrimination, wine experts have historically been men, and experienced tasters discriminate wines better than inexperienced tasters.
William Hodos
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195334654
- eISBN:
- 9780199933167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195334654.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter describes a psychophysical approach to studying the limits of the perceptual abilities of birds. Birds live in an extremely rich visual world that in many ways is similar to ours, but ...
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This chapter describes a psychophysical approach to studying the limits of the perceptual abilities of birds. Birds live in an extremely rich visual world that in many ways is similar to ours, but which also differs from our sensory experiences in a variety of important features. One major difference is the superiority of their color vision. With regard to their spatial vision, for most birds, it is inferior to ours, except that small birds can get much closer to an object and still keep it in focus, so that they get a larger visual image than we do. Thus, even though we have better acuity, many birds can see things that are too small for us to see. Avian temporal vision and sensitivity to achromatic contrast are inferior to ours; but, because of their superior color vision, they may have better chromatic contrast sensitivity than achromatic.Less
This chapter describes a psychophysical approach to studying the limits of the perceptual abilities of birds. Birds live in an extremely rich visual world that in many ways is similar to ours, but which also differs from our sensory experiences in a variety of important features. One major difference is the superiority of their color vision. With regard to their spatial vision, for most birds, it is inferior to ours, except that small birds can get much closer to an object and still keep it in focus, so that they get a larger visual image than we do. Thus, even though we have better acuity, many birds can see things that are too small for us to see. Avian temporal vision and sensitivity to achromatic contrast are inferior to ours; but, because of their superior color vision, they may have better chromatic contrast sensitivity than achromatic.
Christa Neumeyer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195334654
- eISBN:
- 9780199933167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195334654.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter adopts a psychophysical approach to studying color vision and reviews the evolution of color perception in vertebrates. Color vision in goldfish is described as an example before data ...
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This chapter adopts a psychophysical approach to studying color vision and reviews the evolution of color perception in vertebrates. Color vision in goldfish is described as an example before data from other vertebrate species are given for comparison. Comparing the color vision systems in different vertebrate taxa based on behavioral data indicates that a highly developed trichromatic or tetrachromatic color vision must be a very old invention of vertebrates, as it occurs in fishes, amphibia, reptiles, and birds. In mammals, this type of color vision is widely absent and had obviously been reinvented by Old World primates.Less
This chapter adopts a psychophysical approach to studying color vision and reviews the evolution of color perception in vertebrates. Color vision in goldfish is described as an example before data from other vertebrate species are given for comparison. Comparing the color vision systems in different vertebrate taxa based on behavioral data indicates that a highly developed trichromatic or tetrachromatic color vision must be a very old invention of vertebrates, as it occurs in fishes, amphibia, reptiles, and birds. In mammals, this type of color vision is widely absent and had obviously been reinvented by Old World primates.
Edward A. Wasserman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195334654
- eISBN:
- 9780199933167
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195334654.003.0007
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter presents a general overview of the psychophysical approach to studying illusory perceptions in animals. The premise of this chapter is that psychophysical methods are indeed of ...
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This chapter presents a general overview of the psychophysical approach to studying illusory perceptions in animals. The premise of this chapter is that psychophysical methods are indeed of unprecedented power in disclosing the functional properties of animal sensory systems. However, these powerful methods do not actually enable us to gain any privileged access to the private experiential world of animals, even if one exists. These methods do nevertheless enable us to embark on objective inquiries into the biological bases of perception and action.Less
This chapter presents a general overview of the psychophysical approach to studying illusory perceptions in animals. The premise of this chapter is that psychophysical methods are indeed of unprecedented power in disclosing the functional properties of animal sensory systems. However, these powerful methods do not actually enable us to gain any privileged access to the private experiential world of animals, even if one exists. These methods do nevertheless enable us to embark on objective inquiries into the biological bases of perception and action.
Paul W. Glimcher
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199744251
- eISBN:
- 9780199863433
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744251.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Neuropsychology
This chapter develops the first of several linkages between economics, psychology, and neuroscience. First, it provides an overview of classical psychophysics. Second, it demonstrates that the ...
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This chapter develops the first of several linkages between economics, psychology, and neuroscience. First, it provides an overview of classical psychophysics. Second, it demonstrates that the mathematically described relationship between stimulus and percept can be mapped fairly directly to neurobiological models of sensory transduction. It provides examples of pre-existing conceptual reductions between psychology and neuroscience. Finally, it shows that one of these fully linked neurobiology-to-psychology concept groups can be relevant to economics. The chapter concludes by arguing that economic models of the random utility of directly consumable rewards are, in their present form, reducible to psychological models of percept and thence to neurobiological models of biochemical transduction.Less
This chapter develops the first of several linkages between economics, psychology, and neuroscience. First, it provides an overview of classical psychophysics. Second, it demonstrates that the mathematically described relationship between stimulus and percept can be mapped fairly directly to neurobiological models of sensory transduction. It provides examples of pre-existing conceptual reductions between psychology and neuroscience. Finally, it shows that one of these fully linked neurobiology-to-psychology concept groups can be relevant to economics. The chapter concludes by arguing that economic models of the random utility of directly consumable rewards are, in their present form, reducible to psychological models of percept and thence to neurobiological models of biochemical transduction.
Ian P. Howard
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199764143
- eISBN:
- 9780199949359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199764143.003.0090
- Subject:
- Psychology, Vision, Cognitive Psychology
Many psychophysical, behavioral, and analytic procedures are used in the study of depth perception. The chapter starts an outline of psychophysics and a discussion of the types of judgment that are ...
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Many psychophysical, behavioral, and analytic procedures are used in the study of depth perception. The chapter starts an outline of psychophysics and a discussion of the types of judgment that are used in experiments on depth perception. This is followed by an account of procedures used in the analysis of data, including Fourier analysis, control theory, time series, and geometry. Only a general review of these procedures is provided but references are provided where more detailed treatments may be found.Less
Many psychophysical, behavioral, and analytic procedures are used in the study of depth perception. The chapter starts an outline of psychophysics and a discussion of the types of judgment that are used in experiments on depth perception. This is followed by an account of procedures used in the analysis of data, including Fourier analysis, control theory, time series, and geometry. Only a general review of these procedures is provided but references are provided where more detailed treatments may be found.
Cristobal Curio, Heinrich H. Bulthoff, and Martin A. Giese (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262014533
- eISBN:
- 9780262289313
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014533.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Vision
The recognition of faces is a fundamental visual function that is important for social interaction and communication. Scientific interest in facial recognition has increased dramatically over the ...
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The recognition of faces is a fundamental visual function that is important for social interaction and communication. Scientific interest in facial recognition has increased dramatically over the last decade. Researchers in such fields as psychology, neurophysiology, and functional imaging have published more than 10,000 studies on face processing. Almost all of these studies focus on the processing of static pictures of faces; however, little attention has been paid to the recognition of dynamic faces, faces as they change over time—a topic in neuroscience that is also relevant to a variety of technical applications, including robotics, animation, and human–computer interfaces. This book offers an interdisciplinary overview of recent work on dynamic faces from the biological and computational perspectives. The chapters cover a range of topics, including the psychophysics of dynamic face perception, results from electrophysiology and imaging, clinical deficits in patients with impairments of dynamic face processing, and computational models that provide insights about the brain mechanisms for the processing of dynamic faces. The book offers neuroscientists and biologists a reference for designing experiments and provides computer scientists with knowledge that will help them improve technical systems for the recognition, processing, synthesizing, and animating of dynamic faces.Less
The recognition of faces is a fundamental visual function that is important for social interaction and communication. Scientific interest in facial recognition has increased dramatically over the last decade. Researchers in such fields as psychology, neurophysiology, and functional imaging have published more than 10,000 studies on face processing. Almost all of these studies focus on the processing of static pictures of faces; however, little attention has been paid to the recognition of dynamic faces, faces as they change over time—a topic in neuroscience that is also relevant to a variety of technical applications, including robotics, animation, and human–computer interfaces. This book offers an interdisciplinary overview of recent work on dynamic faces from the biological and computational perspectives. The chapters cover a range of topics, including the psychophysics of dynamic face perception, results from electrophysiology and imaging, clinical deficits in patients with impairments of dynamic face processing, and computational models that provide insights about the brain mechanisms for the processing of dynamic faces. The book offers neuroscientists and biologists a reference for designing experiments and provides computer scientists with knowledge that will help them improve technical systems for the recognition, processing, synthesizing, and animating of dynamic faces.
Nicholas Dames
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199208968
- eISBN:
- 9780191695759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208968.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter explores physiological novel theory's vexed relation with notions of ‘organic form’ by examining the discourse of psychophysics, a theory of the discrete building-blocks of ...
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This chapter explores physiological novel theory's vexed relation with notions of ‘organic form’ by examining the discourse of psychophysics, a theory of the discrete building-blocks of consciousness, and how its description of ‘units of consciousness’ made older notions of organic wholeness untenable, as reflected in both Vernon Lee's essays on the novel form and George Meredith's ostentatiously fragmented The Egoist (1879).Less
This chapter explores physiological novel theory's vexed relation with notions of ‘organic form’ by examining the discourse of psychophysics, a theory of the discrete building-blocks of consciousness, and how its description of ‘units of consciousness’ made older notions of organic wholeness untenable, as reflected in both Vernon Lee's essays on the novel form and George Meredith's ostentatiously fragmented The Egoist (1879).
Larry R. Squire
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195396133
- eISBN:
- 9780199918409
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195396133.003.0014
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, History of Neuroscience
Peter H. Schiller, in collaboration with numerous investigators, has carried out research using psychophysical methods, single-cell recordings, microstimulation and pharmacological manipulations. The ...
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Peter H. Schiller, in collaboration with numerous investigators, has carried out research using psychophysical methods, single-cell recordings, microstimulation and pharmacological manipulations. The research has examined (1) The neural underpinnings of visual illusions and visual masking, (2) Retrograde amnesia, (3) The neural control of eye movements, (4) The functions of the midget and parasol systems that originate in the retina, (5) the functions of the ON and OFF channels of the retina and (6) The functions of extrastriate areas in visual processing. Studies at the present time are engaged in assessing the feasibility of creating a prosthetic device for the blind based on electrical stimulation of area V1 and in specifying the neural mechanisms that underlie depth processing.Less
Peter H. Schiller, in collaboration with numerous investigators, has carried out research using psychophysical methods, single-cell recordings, microstimulation and pharmacological manipulations. The research has examined (1) The neural underpinnings of visual illusions and visual masking, (2) Retrograde amnesia, (3) The neural control of eye movements, (4) The functions of the midget and parasol systems that originate in the retina, (5) the functions of the ON and OFF channels of the retina and (6) The functions of extrastriate areas in visual processing. Studies at the present time are engaged in assessing the feasibility of creating a prosthetic device for the blind based on electrical stimulation of area V1 and in specifying the neural mechanisms that underlie depth processing.
Pierre Jacob and Marc Jeannerod
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198509219
- eISBN:
- 9780191584909
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198509219.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This book is about human vision. It results from the collaboration between a world famous cognitive neuroscientist and an eminent philosopher. In the past forty years, cognitive neuroscience has made ...
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This book is about human vision. It results from the collaboration between a world famous cognitive neuroscientist and an eminent philosopher. In the past forty years, cognitive neuroscience has made many startling discoveries about the human brain and about the human visual system in particular. This book brings many recent empirical findings, from electrophysiological recordings in animals, the neuropsychological examination of human patients, psychophysics, and developmental cognitive psychology, to bear on questions traditionally addressed by philosophers. What is the meaning of the English verb ‘to see’? How does visual perception yield knowledge of the world? How does visual perception relate to thought? What is the role of conscious visual experience in visually guided actions? How does seeing actions relate to seeing objects? In the process the book provides a new assessment of the ‘two visual systems’ hypothesis, according to which the human visual system comprises two anatomical pathways with separable visual functions.Less
This book is about human vision. It results from the collaboration between a world famous cognitive neuroscientist and an eminent philosopher. In the past forty years, cognitive neuroscience has made many startling discoveries about the human brain and about the human visual system in particular. This book brings many recent empirical findings, from electrophysiological recordings in animals, the neuropsychological examination of human patients, psychophysics, and developmental cognitive psychology, to bear on questions traditionally addressed by philosophers. What is the meaning of the English verb ‘to see’? How does visual perception yield knowledge of the world? How does visual perception relate to thought? What is the role of conscious visual experience in visually guided actions? How does seeing actions relate to seeing objects? In the process the book provides a new assessment of the ‘two visual systems’ hypothesis, according to which the human visual system comprises two anatomical pathways with separable visual functions.
Justin J. Couchman, Michael J. Beran, Mariana V.C. Coutinho, Joseph Boomer, and J. David Smith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199646739
- eISBN:
- 9780191745867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646739.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology
Humans have the ability to monitor their own cognition and change their behaviour based on information gleaned from that monitoring. We think about our own thinking, and are often fully aware of our ...
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Humans have the ability to monitor their own cognition and change their behaviour based on information gleaned from that monitoring. We think about our own thinking, and are often fully aware of our mental states. This metacognitive ability is closely linked to, and may be the basis for, human consciousness.Less
Humans have the ability to monitor their own cognition and change their behaviour based on information gleaned from that monitoring. We think about our own thinking, and are often fully aware of our mental states. This metacognitive ability is closely linked to, and may be the basis for, human consciousness.
Michael J. Beran, Johannes L. Brandl, Josef Perner, and Joëlle Proust
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199646739
- eISBN:
- 9780191745867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646739.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology
Humans have the ability to monitor their own cognition and change their behaviour based on information gleaned from that monitoring. We think about our own thinking, and are often fully aware of our ...
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Humans have the ability to monitor their own cognition and change their behaviour based on information gleaned from that monitoring. We think about our own thinking, and are often fully aware of our mental states. This metacognitive ability is closely linked to, and may be the basis for, human consciousness. This chapter states that some non-human animals (hereafter, animals) may have a similar ability to monitor their own cognition, though the exact nature of this ability is unknown. The chapter reviews several perceptual, psychophysical, and memory experiments that show animals apparently perceiving and using information about their own mental states. Animal performance in these tasks shows interesting parallels to human performance. The chapter also reviews some problems with this evidence, and discuss ways that researchers have sought to overcome those problems. The chapter states that, taken as a whole, the evidence strongly indicates that some animals have metaminds — minds capable of understanding not only perceptual information, but also information about their own mental states.Less
Humans have the ability to monitor their own cognition and change their behaviour based on information gleaned from that monitoring. We think about our own thinking, and are often fully aware of our mental states. This metacognitive ability is closely linked to, and may be the basis for, human consciousness. This chapter states that some non-human animals (hereafter, animals) may have a similar ability to monitor their own cognition, though the exact nature of this ability is unknown. The chapter reviews several perceptual, psychophysical, and memory experiments that show animals apparently perceiving and using information about their own mental states. Animal performance in these tasks shows interesting parallels to human performance. The chapter also reviews some problems with this evidence, and discuss ways that researchers have sought to overcome those problems. The chapter states that, taken as a whole, the evidence strongly indicates that some animals have metaminds — minds capable of understanding not only perceptual information, but also information about their own mental states.
Ian M. Thornton
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780195393705
- eISBN:
- 9780199979271
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393705.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
While the visual perception of biological motion is traditionally thought to rely on top-down or stimulus-driven processes that operate locally over space and time, this chapter reviews evidence ...
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While the visual perception of biological motion is traditionally thought to rely on top-down or stimulus-driven processes that operate locally over space and time, this chapter reviews evidence that, at least under some conditions, top-down processing also drives the perception of human movement. Evidence in support of top-down processing includes the fact that observers’ percepts of point-light displays of human movement are exceptionally robust across an unusually wide range of experimental manipulations, that the perception of biological motion is attention dependent, and that numerous brain regions appear to contribute to the perception of biological motion. The top-down processing system may have evolved as a means of overcoming the many limitations associated with bottom-up processing of biological motion.Less
While the visual perception of biological motion is traditionally thought to rely on top-down or stimulus-driven processes that operate locally over space and time, this chapter reviews evidence that, at least under some conditions, top-down processing also drives the perception of human movement. Evidence in support of top-down processing includes the fact that observers’ percepts of point-light displays of human movement are exceptionally robust across an unusually wide range of experimental manipulations, that the perception of biological motion is attention dependent, and that numerous brain regions appear to contribute to the perception of biological motion. The top-down processing system may have evolved as a means of overcoming the many limitations associated with bottom-up processing of biological motion.
Catherine L. Reed
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780195393705
- eISBN:
- 9780199979271
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393705.003.0004
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
The visual perception of the human body, whether static or in motion, appears to depend upon the observer’s own bodily representations, as well as on motor and kinesthetic mechanisms. For example, ...
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The visual perception of the human body, whether static or in motion, appears to depend upon the observer’s own bodily representations, as well as on motor and kinesthetic mechanisms. For example, the actions that an observer performs impact that observer’s visual perception of other people’s bodies. This chapter reviews extensive evidence supporting the hypothesis that the interface of visual-motor processes between the observer and observed others depends upon both innate and learned mechanisms.Less
The visual perception of the human body, whether static or in motion, appears to depend upon the observer’s own bodily representations, as well as on motor and kinesthetic mechanisms. For example, the actions that an observer performs impact that observer’s visual perception of other people’s bodies. This chapter reviews extensive evidence supporting the hypothesis that the interface of visual-motor processes between the observer and observed others depends upon both innate and learned mechanisms.
Arieta Chouchourelou, Alissa Golden,, and Maggie Shiffrar
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780195393705
- eISBN:
- 9780199979271
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393705.003.0005
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
For several decades, vision researchers’ use of the term “biological motion” has been used to refer to different things, including the category of all animal movements, the category of all human ...
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For several decades, vision researchers’ use of the term “biological motion” has been used to refer to different things, including the category of all animal movements, the category of all human movements, and, most specifically, the category of human movements depicted in point-light displays. In reviewing data from psychophysical and neurophysiological studies, along with some new perceptual findings, this chapter examines the hypothesis that the visual analysis of human motion does not represent a uniform or bounded perceptual category but rather that analyses of human motion differ in a graded fashion from analyses of nonhuman animal motion. Thus, “biological motion” perception likely defines the perceptual category of human and animal motions organized such that human motion, or, more specifically, the observer’s own motor repertoire, constitutes the prototypical stimulus within the category.Less
For several decades, vision researchers’ use of the term “biological motion” has been used to refer to different things, including the category of all animal movements, the category of all human movements, and, most specifically, the category of human movements depicted in point-light displays. In reviewing data from psychophysical and neurophysiological studies, along with some new perceptual findings, this chapter examines the hypothesis that the visual analysis of human motion does not represent a uniform or bounded perceptual category but rather that analyses of human motion differ in a graded fashion from analyses of nonhuman animal motion. Thus, “biological motion” perception likely defines the perceptual category of human and animal motions organized such that human motion, or, more specifically, the observer’s own motor repertoire, constitutes the prototypical stimulus within the category.
Ayse Pinar Saygin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780195393705
- eISBN:
- 9780199979271
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393705.003.0021
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This chapter summarizes recent research on biological motion perception using structural brain imaging and lesion-mapping techniques in brain-lesioned patients. It also explores how these findings ...
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This chapter summarizes recent research on biological motion perception using structural brain imaging and lesion-mapping techniques in brain-lesioned patients. It also explores how these findings complement research using functional neuroimaging in the healthy human brain and neurophysiological studies on nonhuman primates. Such converging methods have allowed for the identification of a network of brain areas that are involved in the perception of biological motion and areas that are causally linked to deficits in biological motion perception.Less
This chapter summarizes recent research on biological motion perception using structural brain imaging and lesion-mapping techniques in brain-lesioned patients. It also explores how these findings complement research using functional neuroimaging in the healthy human brain and neurophysiological studies on nonhuman primates. Such converging methods have allowed for the identification of a network of brain areas that are involved in the perception of biological motion and areas that are causally linked to deficits in biological motion perception.
Richard B. Stein and Dirk G. Everaert
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195393798
- eISBN:
- 9780199897049
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393798.003.0003
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience, Development
The application of Shannon’s Information Theory to the nervous system initially led to enormous discrepancies between estimates of the potential amount of information that might be transmitted and ...
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The application of Shannon’s Information Theory to the nervous system initially led to enormous discrepancies between estimates of the potential amount of information that might be transmitted and psychophysical estimates of the amount of information that human observers can discriminate. This chapter reviews the reasons for these discrepancies and their resolution based on the coding of steady vs. time varying signals, the role of variability in limiting information transfer but improving fidelity of transmission, the importance of precise timing vs. frequency codes in some sensory systems. Motor systems often function so as to minimize the variance in attaining an end point and neural data are consistent with a theory of how this minimization can be achieved.Less
The application of Shannon’s Information Theory to the nervous system initially led to enormous discrepancies between estimates of the potential amount of information that might be transmitted and psychophysical estimates of the amount of information that human observers can discriminate. This chapter reviews the reasons for these discrepancies and their resolution based on the coding of steady vs. time varying signals, the role of variability in limiting information transfer but improving fidelity of transmission, the importance of precise timing vs. frequency codes in some sensory systems. Motor systems often function so as to minimize the variance in attaining an end point and neural data are consistent with a theory of how this minimization can be achieved.
Daniel C. Dennett
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198522379
- eISBN:
- 9780191688577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198522379.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
‘Qualia’ is an unfamiliar term for something that could not be more familiar to everyone. This chapter examines the origin and coherence of a certain candidate notion of qualia. Qualia are supposed ...
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‘Qualia’ is an unfamiliar term for something that could not be more familiar to everyone. This chapter examines the origin and coherence of a certain candidate notion of qualia. Qualia are supposed to be special properties, in some hard-to-define way. By exposing the groundlessness of qualia-based insights, this chapter undermines the notion of qualia as absolute (non-relational), atomic properties of phenomenal experience. Whether such notions of the properties of phenomenal experience are the same as those countenanced by others is a moot point. That is, most psychologists would argue that they do not assume that qualities of percepts and sensations are free of inference, attitude or memory. However if one considers the tacit assumptions underlying much classical psychophysics, the discussion presented here has some force.Less
‘Qualia’ is an unfamiliar term for something that could not be more familiar to everyone. This chapter examines the origin and coherence of a certain candidate notion of qualia. Qualia are supposed to be special properties, in some hard-to-define way. By exposing the groundlessness of qualia-based insights, this chapter undermines the notion of qualia as absolute (non-relational), atomic properties of phenomenal experience. Whether such notions of the properties of phenomenal experience are the same as those countenanced by others is a moot point. That is, most psychologists would argue that they do not assume that qualities of percepts and sensations are free of inference, attitude or memory. However if one considers the tacit assumptions underlying much classical psychophysics, the discussion presented here has some force.
