Machilsen Bart, Pauwels Maarten, Wagemans Johan
Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
J Vis. 2009 Nov 18;9(12):11.1-11. doi: 10.1167/9.12.11.
The goal of our study is a better understanding of the role of vertical mirror symmetry in perceptual grouping. With a simple psychophysical task and a set of controlled stimuli, we investigated whether vertical mirror symmetry acts as a cue in figure-ground segregation. We asked participants to indicate which of two sequentially presented Gabor arrays contained a visual shape. The shape was defined by a subset of Gabor elements positioned along the outline of an unfamiliar shape. By adding orientation noise to these Gabor elements, the shape percept became less salient. Across the different noise levels, symmetric shapes were easier to detect than asymmetric ones. This finding indicates that vertical mirror symmetry is indeed used as a cue in perceptual grouping.
我们研究的目标是更好地理解垂直镜像对称在知觉分组中的作用。通过一个简单的心理物理学任务和一组受控刺激，我们研究了垂直镜像对称是否在图形-背景分离中充当线索。我们要求参与者指出两个相继呈现的加博尔阵列中哪一个包含视觉形状。该形状由沿着一个不熟悉形状轮廓定位的加博尔元素子集定义。通过向这些加博尔元素添加方向噪声，形状感知变得不那么显著。在不同的噪声水平下，对称形状比不对称形状更容易被检测到。这一发现表明，垂直镜像对称确实在知觉分组中被用作线索。
