Journal article
The perceptual salience of symmetrical and asymmetrical sections of a line
Perception (London), v 39(8), pp 1026-1042
01 Jan 2010
PMID: 20942356
Abstract
A vertical line segment intersecting a horizontal one at different crossing points generates line sections. Visual perception of such line sections was investigated here in two experiments. In both experiments participants were most accurate and precise when they had to reproduce symmetrical sections. Interestingly, the different asymmetrical sections of a line were not equivalent in terms of participants' performance: constant errors changed as a function of sections and the error curve was nicely interpolated by the composition of two harmonics of the line length. In consistence with the harmonic fitting of the data, we propose that the perceptual salience of specific asymmetrical sections is a byproduct of the automatic triggering of a line midpoint identification process. Being perceptually tuned to symmetry warps our visual representation of the line, which results in systematic misperceptions. The way of bringing present and past experimental findings into a unitary whole is proposed.
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Details
- Title
- The perceptual salience of symmetrical and asymmetrical sections of a line
- Creators
- Natale Stucchi - University of Milano-BicoccaValentina Graci - University of BradfordCarlo Toneatto - University of Milano-BicoccaLisa Scocchia - Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
- Publication Details
- Perception (London), v 39(8), pp 1026-1042
- Publisher
- Sage
- Number of pages
- 17
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000282799500002
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-77955820600
- Other Identifier
- 991021902594804721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Ophthalmology
- Psychology
- Psychology, Experimental