Perception最新文献

Faces are rapidly and automatically assessed on multiple social dimensions, including trustworthiness. The high inter-rater agreement on this social judgment suggests a systematic association between facial appearance and perceived trustworthiness. The facial information used by observers during explicit trustworthiness judgments has been studied before. However, it remains unknown whether the same perceptual strategies are used during decisions that involve trusting another individual, without necessitating an explicit trustworthiness judgment. To explore this, 53 participants completed the Trust Game, an economic decision task, while facial information was randomly sampled using the Bubbles method. Our results show that economic decisions based on facial cues rely on similar visual information as that used during explicit trustworthiness judgments. We then manipulated facial features identified as diagnostic for trust to test their influence on perceived trustworthiness (Experiment 2) and on trust-related behaviors (Experiment 3). Across all experiments, subtle, targeted changes to facial features systematically shifted both impressions and monetary trust decisions. These findings demonstrate that the same perceptual strategies underlie explicit judgments and trust behaviors, highlighting the applied relevance of even minimal alterations in facial appearance. These findings should be replicated with real faces from diverse demographic backgrounds to confirm their generalizability.

As ChatGPT continues to impress with its ability to generate human-like text, its capabilities in emotion recognition remain an open question. Unlike previous research comparing ChatGPT and humans on tasks with objective answers, we explored an affective domain where no correct answer exists: emotional ratings of images, a task requiring visual-perceptual analysis of complex input to recover an affective judgment. Using the MATTER database, rated on valence and arousal dimensions, I prompted ChatGPT-4 to do the same. The results revealed that ChatGPT rated images as less positive and less arousing than humans on average, particularly for images categorized as 'mirthful,' 'fearful,' and 'disgusting.' These findings suggest that while ChatGPT is able to process affective information, its responses reflect an analytical rather than experiential framework, differing from human interpretations.

In this paper, an optical illusion is described in which purple elements are perceived as purple at the point of fixation, while surrounding elements of the same purple color are perceived toward a blue hue. As the viewing distance increases, a greater number of purple elements revert to a purple appearance.

We challenge the conventional notion that symmetry perception requires positional correspondence between image elements by demonstrating that symmetry can be perceived solely through spatial variations in image statistics in the absence of direct element correspondence (i.e., second-order symmetry, in contrast to the traditional "first-order symmetry" concept characterized by explicit element matching). One example of the second-order symmetry patterns is constructed by modulating random dot carriers with low-pass symmetrical envelopes. Additional instances can be generated via symmetric modulation of dot density, orientation statistics, dot-pair statistics, binocular disparity, and motion flow. These patterns elicit robust symmetry percepts despite lacking local feature correspondence, challenging current models of symmetry detection. Instead, the implication is that the visual system infers a surface structure before symmetry assessment.

This study examined how background context and athletic experience influence peripheral colour detection. Twenty-six participants - outdoor athletes, indoor athletes and non-athletes - completed a colour detection task with human figure or circle stimuli on sport-specific indoor and outdoor scenes. Outdoor athletes showed superior detection across conditions. Crucially, this advantage was not restricted to sport-specific stimuli or backgrounds, suggesting that perceptual learning in athletes generalises across contexts. This quasi-experimental study compared naturally occurring sport groups rather than assigning participants to conditions, allowing investigation of experience-related differences in peripheral processing. The findings provide evidence that perceptual expertise in sport reflects more than reaction speed, highlighting improvements in low-level perception. They also demonstrate that visual plasticity persists beyond critical developmental periods: repeated exposure to complex, unpredictable outdoor environments appears sufficient to shape perceptual abilities later in life.

Faces are critical stimuli used for many social cognitive processes, believed to be served by specialised neural processes in the visual system. A recently described face size illusion shows that upright faces are perceived as physically smaller than inverted faces, and may provide insight into the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying human face perception. In this study, we investigated whether the face size illusion is specific to whole faces or whether it occurs as well for isolated face parts. The results provided a clear replication of the face size illusion for whole faces. In striking contrast, no comparable illusion was found for isolated noses, mouths, and eyes. For eyes, there was in fact an illusion in the opposite direction. These results provide further evidence for the specificity of the face size illusion and suggest that it may arise from the holistic processing of the face as an entire unit, rather than localised processing of individual face parts.

This study investigated the role of perceptual learning in the composite face effect (CFE), which is characterized by reduced accuracy in recognizing the top half of a face when it is combined with the bottom half of another face, particularly when the composite is upright and aligned, compared to when the two halves are laterally offset (misaligned). The misalignment disrupts configural/holistic processing, affecting recognition performance. Experiment 1a (n = 96) employed prototype-defined checkerboards to investigate the presence of the composite effect. The advantage of using these stimuli is that expertise can be precisely controlled. Experiment 1b (n = 96) aimed to replicate the composite effect using face stimuli, serving as a control and enabling direct comparison of the effect between face and checkerboard stimuli. Both experiments employed a full design that included congruent and incongruent, aligned and misaligned composites to measure the composite effect. Results from Experiment 1a indicated that the composite effect could not be obtained with checkerboard composites, whereas Experiment 1b confirmed the robust presence of the CFE in face stimuli. Based on these findings, we can interpret that perceptual learning does not significantly contribute to the CFE.

Visual Snow (VS) syndrome is a neurological condition characterised by the constant perception of small flicking dots across the visual field. These symptoms are thought to be caused by hyperexcitability in the visual cortex. This study examined the potential link between VS and susceptibility to the face pareidolia (FP) illusion, where faces are perceived in inanimate objects. Using a self-report VS questionnaire and a standard FP sensitivity task, we collected data remotely from 132 individuals with VS and 104 age-matched controls. Results revealed higher FP sensitivity in individuals with VS, amplified in those with co-occurring migraines. Non-parametric analyses confirmed elevated face scores for VS participants, even when migraines were excluded. A rank-order analysis showed consistency in response patterns across groups, ruling out the idea that extraordinary responses to one stimulus drove the group difference. These findings suggest that individuals with VS syndrome have an increased susceptibility to the FP illusion. Future research should investigate whether hyperexcitability in the visual cortex is the cause.

We explored whether providing information that artistic photography depicts individuals on the autism spectrum and their special interests influences viewers' preferences. Our findings demonstrated a positive impact of providing such information on participants' ratings of aesthetic emotions and judgments. The present study suggests that artistic activities showing autistic individuals can serve as positive self-advocacy tools when framed by contextual information.