Journal of Vision最新文献

Contextual cueing is a phenomenon of visual statistical learning observed in visual search tasks. Previous research has found that the degree of deviation of items from its centroid, known as variability, determines the extent of generalization for that repeated scene. Introducing variability increases dissimilarity between multiple occurrences of the same repeated layout significantly. However, current theories do not explain the mechanisms that help to overcome this dissimilarity during contextual cue learning. We propose that the cognitive system initially abstracts specific scenes into scene layouts through an automatic clustering unrelated to specific repeated scenes, and subsequently uses these abstracted scene layouts for contextual cue learning. Experiment 1 indicates that introducing greater variability in search scenes leads to a hindering in the contextual cue learning. Experiment 2 further establishes that conducting extensive visual searches involving spatial variability in entirely novel scenes facilitates subsequent contextual cue learning involving corresponding scene variability, confirming that learning clustering knowledge precedes the contextual cue learning and is independent of specific repeated scenes. Overall, this study demonstrates the existence of multiple levels of learning in visual statistical learning, where item-level learning can serve as material for layout-level learning, and the generalization reflects the constraining role of item-level knowledge on layout-level knowledge.

Adaptation to flickering/dynamic noise improves visual acuity for briefly presented stimuli (Arnold et al., 2016). Here, we investigate whether such adaptation operates directly on our ability to see detail or by changing fixational eye movements and pupil size or by reducing visual crowding. Following earlier work, visual acuity was measured in observers who were either unadapted or who had adapted to a 60-Hz flickering noise pattern. Participants reported the orientation of a white tumbling-T target (four-alternative forced choice [4AFC], ⊤⊣⊥⊢). The target was presented for 110 ms either in isolation or flanked by randomly oriented T's (e.g., ⊣⊤⊢) followed by an isolated (+) or flanked (+++) mask, respectively. We measured fixation stability (using an infrared eye tracker) while observers performed the task (with and without adaptation). Visual acuity improved modestly (around 8.4%) for flanked optotypes following adaptation to flicker (mean, -0.038 ± 0.063 logMAR; p = 0.015; BF10 = 3.66) but did not when measured with isolated letters (mean, -0.008 ± 0.055 logMAR; p = 0.5; BF10 = 0.29). The magnitude of acuity improvement was associated with individuals' (unadapted) susceptibility to crowding (the ratio of crowded to uncrowded acuity; r = -0.58, p = 0.008, BF10 = 7.70) but to neither fixation stability nor pupil size. Confirming previous reports, flicker improved acuity for briefly presented stimuli, but we show that this was only the case for crowded letters. These improvements likely arise from attenuation of sensitivity to a transient low spatial frequency (SF) image structure (Arnold et al., 2016; Tagoh et al., 2022), which may, for example, reduce masking of high SFs by low SFs. We also suggest that this attenuation could reduce backward masking and so reduce foveal crowding.

The perception of the ambiguous image of #TheDress may be influenced by optical factors, such as macular pigments. Their accumulation during childhood could increase with age and the ingestion of carotenoid-containing foods. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the visual perception of the dress in children would differ based on age and carotenoid preference. This was a cross-sectional, observational, and comparative study. A poll was administered to children aged 2 to 10 years. Parents were instructed to inquire about the color of #TheDress from their children. A carotenoid preference survey was also completed. A total of 413 poll responses were analyzed. Responses were categorized based on the perceived color of the dress: blue/black (BB) (n = 204) and white/gold (WG) (n = 209). The mean and median age of the WG group was higher than the BB group (mean 6.1, median 6.0 years, standard deviation [SD] 2.2; mean 5.5, median 5.0 years, SD 2.3; p = 0.007). Spearman correlation between age and group was 0.133 (p = 0.007). Green-leaf preference (GLP) showed a statistically significant difference between groups (Mann-Whitney U: p = 0.038). Spearman correlation between GLP and group was 0.102 (p = 0.037). Logistic regression for the perception of the dress as WG indicated that age and GLP were significant predictors (age: B weight 0.109, p = 0.012, odds ratio: 1.115; GLP: B weight 0.317, p = 0.033, odds ratio: 1.373). Older children and those with a higher GLP were more likely to perceive #TheDress as WG. These results suggest a potential relationship with the gradual accumulation of macular pigments throughout a child's lifetime.

Examination of imported commodities by trained inspectors searching for pest organisms is a common practice that phytosanitary regulatory agencies use to mitigate biosecurity risks along trade pathways. To investigate the effects of target size and color on the efficacy of these visual assessments, we affixed square decals to polystyrene models of mandarins. Sample units of 100 model fruit containing up to 10 marked models were examined by inspectors. Six sizes in six shades of brown were tested across two prevalence levels. The experiment consisted of five inspection rounds where 11 inspectors examined 77 sample units within an allocated time. The probability that decals were detected increased with mark size and color contrast. Smaller, low-contrast marks were mainly missed. The prevalence rate did not affect the detectability. Through the experiment, the false-positive rate dropped from 6% to 3%, whereas false-negative rates were constant throughout. Large, dark targets were readily found with a mean recall of >90%, whereas small, pale marks had a mean recall of 9%. Increased experience made inspectors more competent at recognizing decals, reducing the false positive rate. However, constant false-negative rates indicate that experience did not prevent inspectors from overlooking targets they could not perceive.

Recent advances in nonparametric contrast sensitivity function (CSF) estimation have yielded a new tradeoff between accuracy and efficiency not available to classical parametric estimators. An additional advantage of this new framework is the ability to independently tune multiple aspects of the estimator to seek further improvements. Machine learning CSF estimation with Gaussian processes allows for design optimization in the kernel, acquisition function, and underlying task representation, to name a few. This article describes a novel kernel for CSF estimation that is more flexible than a kernel based on strictly functional forms. Despite being more flexible, it can result in a more efficient estimator. Further, trial selection for data acquisition that is generalized beyond pure information gain can also improve estimator quality. Finally, introducing latent variable representations underlying general CSF shapes can enable simultaneous estimation of multiple CSFs, such as from different eyes, eccentricities, or luminances. The conditions under which the new procedures perform better than previous nonparametric estimation procedures are presented and quantified.

Across the visual periphery, perceptual and metacognitive abilities differ depending on the locus of visual attention, the location of peripheral stimulus presentation, the task design, and many other factors. In this investigation, we aimed to illuminate the relationship between attention and eccentricity in the visual periphery by estimating perceptual sensitivity, metacognitive sensitivity, and response biases across the visual field. In a 2AFC detection task, participants were asked to determine whether a signal was present or absent at one of eight peripheral locations (±10°, 20°, 30°, and 40°), using either a valid or invalid attentional cue. As expected, results revealed that perceptual sensitivity declined with eccentricity and was modulated by attention, with higher sensitivity on validly cued trials. Furthermore, a significant main effect of eccentricity on response bias emerged, with variable (but relatively unbiased) c'a values from 10° to 30°, and conservative c'a values at 40°. Regarding metacognitive sensitivity, significant main effects of attention and eccentricity were found, with metacognitive sensitivity decreasing with eccentricity, and decreasing in the invalid cue condition. Interestingly, metacognitive efficiency, as measured by the ratio of meta-d'a/d'a, was not modulated by attention or eccentricity. Overall, these findings demonstrate (1) that in some circumstances, observers have surprisingly robust metacognitive insights into how performance changes across the visual field and (2) that the periphery may be subject to variable detection biases that are contingent on the exact location in peripheral space.

We investigated whether adaptation from implied motion (IM) is transferred to real motion using optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) in infants. Specifically, we examined whether viewing a series of images depicting motion shifted infants' OKN responses to the opposite direction of random dot kinematograms (RDKs). Each RDK was presented 10 times in a pre-test, followed by 10 trials of IM adaptation and test. During the pre-test, the signal dots of the RDK moved left or right. During IM adaptation, 10 randomly selected images depicting leftward (or rightward) IM were presented. In the test, the RDK was presented immediately after the last IM image. An observer, blinded to the motion direction, assessed the OKN direction. The number of matches in OKN responses for each RDK direction was calculated as the match ratio of OKN. We conducted a two-way mixed analysis of variance, with age group (5-6 months and 7-8 months) as the between-participant factor and adaptation (pre-test and test) as the within-participant factor. Only in 7-8 months the OKN responses were shifted in the opposite direction of RDK by viewing a series of images depicting motion, and these infants could detect both IM and RDK motion directions in the pre-test. Our results indicate that detecting the IM and RDK directions might induce direction-selective adaptation in 7-8 months.

The occipital place area (OPA) is a scene-selective region on the lateral surface of human occipitotemporal cortex that spatially overlaps multiple visual field maps, as well as portions of cortex that are not currently defined as retinotopic. Here we combined population receptive field modeling and responses to scenes in a representational similarity analysis (RSA) framework to test the prediction that the OPA's visual field map divisions contribute uniquely to the overall pattern of scene selectivity within the OPA. Consistent with this prediction, the patterns of response to a set of complex scenes were heterogeneous between maps. To explain this heterogeneity, we tested the explanatory power of seven candidate models using RSA. These models spanned different scene dimensions (Content, Expanse, Distance), low- and high-level visual features, and navigational affordances. None of the tested models could account for the variation in scene response observed between the OPA's visual field maps. However, the heterogeneity in scene response was correlated with the differences in retinotopic profiles across maps. These data highlight the need to carefully examine the relationship between regions defined as category-selective and the underlying retinotopy, and they suggest that, in the case of the OPA, it may not be appropriate to conceptualize it as a single scene-selective region.

In this paper, we show that the model we proposed earlier to account for the disparity vergence eye movements (disparity vergence responses, or DVRs) in response to horizontal and vertical disparity steps of white noise visual stimuli also provides an excellent description of the short-latency ocular following responses (OFRs) to broadband stimuli in the visual motion domain. In addition, we reanalyzed the data and applied the model to several earlier studies that used sine-wave gratings (single or a combination of two or three gratings) and white noise stimuli. The model provides a very good account of all of these data. The model postulates that the short-latency eye movements-OFRs and DVRs-can be accounted for by the operation of two factors: an excitatory drive, determined by a weighted sum of contributions of stimulus Fourier components, scaled by a global contrast normalization mechanism. The output of the operation of these two factors is then nonlinearly scaled by the total contrast of the stimulus. Despite different roles of disparity (horizontal and vertical) and motion signals in visual scene analyses, the earliest processing stages of these different signals appear to be very similar.