Herzog Michael H, Schmonsees Ulrike, Boesenberg Jakob M, Mertins Timm, Fahle Manfred
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Percept Psychophys. 2008 Jul;70(5):887-95. doi: 10.3758/pp.70.5.887.
How the elements of a visual scene are grouped into objects is one of the most fundamental but still poorly understood questions in visual neuroscience. Most investigations of perceptual grouping focus on static stimuli, neglecting temporal aspects. Using a masking paradigm, we show that the neural mechanisms underlying grouping seem to be both fast and complex. For example, a vernier target was followed by, first, a briefly presented grating and, then, a long-lasting, extended grating. Under these conditions, the briefly presented grating is hardly visible. Still, vernier discrimination strongly changed with the number of elements of the briefly displayed grating being worst for small gratings. In accordance with a neural network model of masking, we propose that the edges of the briefly presented grating and the vernier interfere in spite of the short presentation time. We suggest that this fast edge processing is a first step for unconscious grouping processes.
视觉场景中的元素如何被分组为物体，是视觉神经科学中最基本但仍未被充分理解的问题之一。大多数关于知觉分组的研究都集中在静态刺激上，而忽略了时间方面。使用掩蔽范式，我们表明分组背后的神经机制似乎既快速又复杂。例如，一个游标目标之后，首先是一个短暂呈现的光栅，然后是一个持久的、扩展的光栅。在这些条件下，短暂呈现的光栅几乎不可见。然而，游标辨别力会随着短暂显示光栅的元素数量而强烈变化，对于小光栅来说最差。根据掩蔽的神经网络模型，我们提出，尽管呈现时间很短，但短暂呈现的光栅的边缘和游标会相互干扰。我们认为这种快速的边缘处理是无意识分组过程的第一步。
