Empirical evidence for independent dimensions in the visual representation of three-dimensional shape.

Full Abstract

Three experiments investigated whether the human visual system can make independent estimations of 3-dimensional shape dimensions, as suggested by structural description models of human object recognition. Experiment 1 used a noise masking paradigm to investigate whether primary-axis curvature and aspect ratio are estimated independently. The results showed clear evidence that these 3-dimensional shape properties are estimated independently from the image. Experiment 2 investigated whether the visual system can treat any arbitrary set of independent shape dimensions independently. The dimensions used in Experiment 2 were linear combinations of aspect ratio and primary-axis curvature used in Experiment 1. Experiment 2 results showed that these 2 dimensions were not estimated independently. Using the same masking paradigm, Experiment 3 investigated whether an object's 3-dimensional shape is estimated independently of the object's viewpoint. This experiment found that shape properties are estimated independently of viewpoint.

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Author information

Author/s: Stankiewicz, Brian J (BJ);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA. bstankie(-atsign-)psy.utexas.edu

Grants: EY02857 (Agency:United States NEI)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance (J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Aug; vol 28 (issue 4) : pp 913-32

Dates: Created 2002/08/22; Completed 2003/01/30; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12190258, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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