DOCSLIB.ORG

The Early Stages of Perceptual Organization

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Early Stages of Perceptual Organization Learning to see: The early stages of perceptual organization by Yuri Ostrovsky A.B. Computer Science Harvard College, 1998 SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF BRAIN AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN NEUROSCIENCE AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SEPTEMBER 2010 ©2010 Yuri Ostrovsky. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature of Author: ___________________________________________________________________ Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences September, 2010 Certified by: __________________________________________________________________________ Pawan Sinha Associate Professor of Computational Neuroscience Thesis Supervisor Accepted by:__________________________________________________________________________ Earl Miller Picower Professor of Neuroscience Director, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Graduate Program Learning to see: The early stages of perceptual organization by Yuri Ostrovsky Submitted to the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences September, 2010 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience ABSTRACT One of the great puzzles of vision science is how, over the course of development, the complex visual array comprising many regions of different colors and luminances is transformed into a sophisticated and meaningful constellation of objects. Gestaltists describe some of the rules that seem to govern a mature parsing of the visual scene, but where do these rules come from? Are they innate—endowed by evolution, or do they come somehow from visual experience? The answer to this question is usually confounded in infant studies as the timelines of maturation and experience are inextricably linked. Here, we describe studies with a special population of late-onset vision patients, which suggest a distinction between those capabilities available innately and those which are crafted via learning from the visual environment. We conclude with a hypothesis, based on these findings and other evidence, that early-available common fate motion cues provide a level of perceptual organization which forms the basis for the learning of subsequent cues. Thesis Supervisor: Pawan Sinha Title: Associate Professor of Computational Neuroscience 2 3 Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 “Maturation” versus “development” ............................................................................................................ 7 1.2 A brief history of visual development research ....................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 Early brain plasticity in vision .............................................................................................................. 9 1.2.2 Lower-level visual development ........................................................................................................ 12 1.2.3 Higher-level visual development ....................................................................................................... 15 1.3 Towards a theory of visual development ................................................................................................. 18 1.4 References ............................................................................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 2. The Case of SRD: Maturation versus experience ................................................................................ 27 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 28 2.2 SRD: Case Description ...................................................................................................................................... 30 2.2.1 Family History and Early Childhood ................................................................................................. 30 2.2.2 Post-operative Experience .................................................................................................................... 31 2.3 Experimental assessment of SRD's visual function ........................................................................ 32 2.4 Discussion.............................................................................................................................................................. 36 2.5 References ............................................................................................................................................................. 38 2.6 Appendix: Supplementary material ............................................................................................................ 40 2.6.1 Basic Form Perception ........................................................................................................................... 41 2.6.2 Face Processing ......................................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter 3. Visual Parsing After Recovery from Blindness ................................................................................... 55 3.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................... 56 3.2 Methods .................................................................................................................................................................. 58 3.3 Results ..................................................................................................................................................................... 60 4 3.4 Discussion.............................................................................................................................................................. 66 3.5 References ............................................................................................................................................................. 69 Chapter 4. An argument for Dynamic Bootstrapping as a theory of visual development ....................... 73 4.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................................................... 73 4.1.1 The Historical Perspective .................................................................................................................... 74 4.2 Motivation towards an empiricist theory of visual development .................................................. 78 4.3 The Dynamic Bootstrapping hypothesis: The development of visual perceptual organization abilities through dynamic information ......................................................................................... 79 4.4 Evidence for the Dynamic Bootstrapping hypothesis ......................................................................... 80 4.4.1 Empirical/developmental evidence .................................................................................................. 81 4.4.2 Ecological/statistical evidence............................................................................................................ 82 4.4.3 Logistical evidence ................................................................................................................................... 82 4.5 Discussion.............................................................................................................................................................. 83 4.6 References ............................................................................................................................................................. 86 Chapter 5. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 89 5.1 Thoughts on the critical period .................................................................................................................... 89 5.2 Nature versus nurture ...................................................................................................................................... 92 5.3 Future directions ................................................................................................................................................ 94 5.4 Postscript ............................................................................................................................................................... 96 5.5 References ............................................................................................................................................................. 98 5.6 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................ 100 5 Chapter 1. Introduction Vision – the ability to “see”—seems so natural and seamless to us that a casual student of the mind may not even consider this faculty as requiring study. The lay observer often
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Longitudinal Investigation of Disparity Vergence in Young Adult Convergence Insufficiency Patients
    New Jersey Institute of Technology Digital Commons @ NJIT Theses Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 2019 Longitudinal investigation of disparity vergence in young adult convergence insufficiency patients Patrick C. Crincoli New Jersey Institute of Technology Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses Part of the Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons Recommended Citation Crincoli, Patrick C., "Longitudinal investigation of disparity vergence in young adult convergence insufficiency patients" (2019). Theses. 1683. https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/1683 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ NJIT. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ NJIT. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright Warning & Restrictions The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a, user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use” that user may be liable for copyright infringement, This institution
    [Show full text]
  • Blindsight in Man and Monkey
    braini0301 Brain (1997), 120, 535–559 INVITED REVIEW Blindsight in man and monkey Petra Stoerig1 and Alan Cowey2 1Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians- Correspondence to: Petra Stoerig, Institute of Medical University, Munich, Germany and 2Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Goethestraβe Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, Oxford, UK 31, D-80336 Munich, Germany Summary In man and monkey, absolute cortical blindness is caused by degeneration. While extrastriate cortical areas participate in destruction of the optic radiations and/or the primary visual the mediation of the forced-choice responses, a concomitant cortex. It is characterized by an absence of any conscious striate cortical activation does not seem to be necessary for vision, but stimuli presented inside its borders may blindsight. Whether the loss of phenomenal vision is a nevertheless be processed. This unconscious vision includes necessary consequnce of striate cortical destruction and neuroendocrine, reflexive, indirect and forced-choice whether this structure is indispensable for conscious sight responses which are mediated by the visual subsystems are much debated questions which need to be tackled that escape the direct cerebral damage and the ensuing experimentally. Keywords: cortical blindness; blindsight; residual vision; phenomenal vision; visual system Abbreviations: dLGN 5 dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus; OKN 5 optokinetic nystagmus; PGN 5 pregeniculate nucleus; ROC 5 receiver-operating-characteristic curve Introduction ‘A survey of the recent literature indicates that the roˆle of gaining a better understanding of how the visual system the occipital lobes in visually guided behavior in general works and, by exclusion, of getting a hold on the neuronal cannot be properly evaluated as long as investigators are correlate of conscious vision.
    [Show full text]
  • Eleanor J. Gibson from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Eleanor J. Gibson From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Eleanor Jack Gibson (7 December 1910 – 30 December 2002) was an American psychologist who focused on reading Eleanor Jack Gibson development and perceptual learning in infants and toddlers. In the 1960s and 1970s Gibson, with her husband James J. Gibson, created the Gibsonian ecological theory of development which emphasized how important perception was because it allows humans to adapt to their environments. Perhaps her most well- known contribution to psychology was the "visual cliff", which studied depth perception and visual or motor impairments in both human and animal species. This led to a new understanding of perceptual development in infants. The environment provides information for the sensory system to develop with increased Eleanor Gibson - Keynote Address - 1993 APS stimuli, so perceptual development corresponds with Convention environmental stimuli. Infants develop from adapting to the Born December 7, 1910 environment. Gibson was elected to the National Academy of Peoria, Illinois Sciences in 1971 and as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977. In 1992 she was awarded the Died December 30, 2002 (aged 92) National Medal of Science, which is the highest scientific honor Columbia, South Carolina in the United States, and only five of which have been awarded Fields psychology to psychologists. Institutions Cornell University Alma mater Smith College (B.A., 1931) (M.S., 1933) Contents Yale University (Ph.D., 1938) Doctoral Clark L. Hull 1 Biography advisor 2 Legacy timeline Known for Visual Cliff, Differentiation and 3 Representative research 3.1 Perceptual learning Enrichment of Embedded Structures 3.2 Visual cliff Influences James J.
    [Show full text]
  • Perceptual Learning, Awareness, and the Hippocampus
    HIPPOCAMPUS11:776–782(2001) PerceptualLearning,Awareness,andtheHippocampus JosephR.Manns1 andLarryR.Squire2* 1DepartmentofPsychology,UniversityofCalifornia, SanDiego,California 2VeteranAffairsHealthcareSystem,SanDiego,and DepartmentsofPsychiatry,Neurosciences,and Psychology,UniversityofCalifornia, SanDiego,California ABSTRACT: Declarativememorydependsonthehippocampusand independentofthemedialtemporallobeanddience- relatedmedialtemporallobeanddiencephalicstructures.Declarative phalicstructuresimportantfordeclarativememory. memoryhasusuallybeenfoundtobeavailabletoconsciousrecollection. Afundamentalissueaboutthesememorysystemsis Arecentstudy(ChunandPhelps,NatNeurosci1999;2:844–847)found thatdamagetothemedialtemporallobe(includingthehippocampus) whatcriteria,asidefromanatomy,mightusefullydistin- impairedperformanceonaperceptuallearningtask,yetthelearningwas guishthem.Onecriterionthathasbeenusefulisthat accomplishedintheabsenceofmemoryforthestimuli.Thisfindingraised declarativememorysupportstheflexibleuseofacquired thepossibilitythatsomehippocampus-dependenttasksmaybeinacces- knowledge,whereasnondeclarativememoryismore sibletoawarenessandmaybeperformedwithoutevokingconscious closelytiedtotheoriginallearningsituationandisless memoryprocesses.Usingthesametask,weshowthatwhendamageis confinedlargelytothehippocampalformation,perceptuallearningis accessibletootherresponsesystems(Cohen,1984; intact.Thus,theavailabledatasuggestthatdamagelimitedtothehip- Gliskyetal.,1986a,b;SaundersandWeiskrantz,1989; pocampalformationdoesnotimpairnonconscious(nondeclarative)
    [Show full text]
  • Varieties of Perceptual Learning
    Learning & Behavior 2009, 37 (2), 119-125 doi:10.3758/LB.37.2.119 Varieties of perceptual learning N. J. MACKINTOSH Cambridge University, Cambridge, England Although most studies of perceptual learning in human participants have concentrated on the changes in perr- ception assumed to be occurring, studies of nonhuman animals necessarily measure discrimination learning and generalization and remain agnostic on the question of whether changes in behavior reflect changes in perception. On the other hand, animal studies do make it easier to draw a distinction between supervised and unsupervised learning. Differential reinforcement will surely teach animals to attend to some features of a stimulus array rather than to others. But it is an open question as to whether such changes in attention underlie the enhanced discrimination seen after unreinforced exposure to such an array. I argue that most instances of unsupervised perceptual learning observed in animals (and at least some in human animals) are better explained by appeal to well-established principles and phenomena of associative learning theory: excitatory and inhibitory associations between stimulus elements, latent inhibition, and habituation. According to one definition, perceptual learning “im- a discrimination between a circle and a triangle, the first proves discrimination between stimuli that could not be group learned substantially more quickly than the second. discriminated before the learning; observers may learn The apparently unreinforced prior exposure to circles and to perceive something new that they could not perceive triangles had made them easier to tell apart. The learn- before” (Fahle, 2002a, p. ix). Although Fahle (2002a) used ing that occurred during this phase of the experiment the second part of his definition to exclude (wrongly, in was unsupervised.
    [Show full text]
  • Perceptual Learning and the Technology of Expertise Studies in Fraction Learning and Algebra*
    Perceptual learning and the technology of expertise Studies in fraction learning and algebra* Philip J. Kellmana, Christine Masseyb, Zipora Rothb, Timothy Burkea, Joel Zuckera, Amanda Sawa, Katherine E. Aguerob, and Joseph A. Wisec aUniversity of California, Los Angeles / bUniversity of Pennsylvania / cNew Roads School Learning in educational settings most often emphasizes declarative and proce- dural knowledge. Studies of expertise, however, point to other, equally important components of learning, especially improvements produced by experience in the extraction of information: Perceptual learning. Here we describe research that combines principles of perceptual learning with computer technology to address persistent difficulties in mathematics learning. We report three experiments in which we developed and tested perceptual learning modules (PLMs) to address issues of structure extraction and fluency in relation to algebra and fractions. PLMs focus students’ learning on recognizing and discriminating, or map- ping key structures across different representations or transformations. Results showed significant and persisting learning gains for students using PLMs. PLM technology offers promise for addressing neglected components of learning: Pat- tern recognition, structural intuition, and fluency. Using PLMs as a complement to other modes of instruction may allow students to overcome chronic problems in learning. Keywords: algebra, fluency, fractions, learning technology, mathematics instruction, mathematics learning, pattern recognition,
    [Show full text]
  • The Figure Is in the Brain of the Beholder: Neural Correlates of Individual Percepts in The
    The Figure is in the Brain of the Beholder: Neural Correlates of Individual Percepts in the Bistable Face-Vase Image A Thesis Presented to The Division of Philosophy, Religion, Psychology, and Linguistics Reed College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts Phoebe Bauer May 2015 Approved for the Division (Psychology) Michael Pitts Acknowledgments I think some people experience a degree of unease when being taken care of, so they only let certain people do it, or they feel guilty when it happens. I don’t really have that. I love being taken care of. Here is a list of people who need to be explicitly thanked because they have done it so frequently and are so good at it: Chris: thank you for being my support system across so many contexts, for spinning with me, for constantly reminding me what I’m capable of both in and out of the lab. Thank you for validating and often mirroring my emotions, and for never leaving a conflict unresolved. Rennie: thank you for being totally different from me and yet somehow understanding the depths of my opinions and thought experiments. Thank you for being able to talk about magic. Thank you for being my biggest ego boost and accepting when I internalize it. Ben: thank you for taking the most important classes with me so that I could get even more out of them by sharing. Thank you for keeping track of priorities (quality dining: yes, emotional explanations: yes, fretting about appearances: nu-uh). #AshHatchtag & Stella & Master Tran: thank you for being a ceaseless source of cheer and laughter and color and love this year.
    [Show full text]
  • Visual Problems After Brain Injury
    Visual problems after brain injury As a charity, we rely on donations from people like you to continue providing free information to people affected by brain injury. Donate today: www.headway.org.uk/donate Introduction Vision is the skill that allows us to see the world around us. When we look at the world, a complex series of processes takes place between the eyes and the brain. The eyes take in the information, while the brain (which is connected to the eyes by a nerve called the optic nerve) is responsible for processing and interpreting it. Through this system we are able to see things such as colours, shapes, movement, objects and people. When the brain is injured, the ability to interpret visual information can be affected in different ways. This factsheet has been written to explain how brain injury can affect vision and how to seek professional support with these issues. Tips for coping with visual problems are also offered. Words in bold are defined in a glossary at the end of the factsheet. What is vision? There are lots of different aspects of vision. Some of the things the brain needs to do to decode information that it receives from the eyes are: • process the shape and colour of objects • process and merge information received from both eyes • recall information from memory to recognise objects or places • process the movement of objects • process the location and position of an object in space • process information across the visual field (including peripheral vision) Generally, different parts of the brain are responsible for processing these different aspects of vision.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Merced Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
    UC Merced Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society Title Voluntary versus Involuntary Perceptual Switching: Mechanistic Differences in Viewing an Ambiguous Figure Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/333348w4 Journal Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 27(27) ISSN 1069-7977 Authors Rambusch, Jana Ziemke, Tom Publication Date 2005 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Voluntary versus Involuntary Perceptual Switching: Mechanistic Differences in Viewing an Ambiguous Figure Michelle Umali ([email protected]) Center for Neurobiology & Behavior, Columbia University 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY, 10032, USA Marc Pomplun ([email protected]) Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts at Boston 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA Abstract frequency, blink frequency, and pupil size, which have been robustly correlated with cognitive function (see Rayner, Here we demonstrate the mechanistic differences between 1998, for a review). Investigators utilizing this method have voluntary and involuntary switching of the perception of an examined the regions within ambiguous figures that receive ambiguous figure. In our experiment, participants viewed a attention during a specific interpretation, as well as changes 3D ambiguous figure, the Necker cube, and were asked to maintain one of two possible interpretations across four in eye movement parameters that may specify the time of different conditions of varying cognitive load. These switch. conditions differed in the instruction to freely view, make For example, Ellis and Stark (1978) reported that guided saccades, or fixate on a central cross. In the fourth prolonged fixation duration occurs at the time of perceptual condition, subjects were instructed to make guided saccades switching.
    [Show full text]
  • Frontoparietal Activity and Its Structural Connectivity in Binocular Rivalry
    Author's personal copy BRAIN RESEARCH 1305 (2009) 96– 107 available at www.sciencedirect.com www.elsevier.com/locate/brainres Research Report Frontoparietal activity and its structural connectivity in binocular rivalry Juliane C. Wilckea,b,⁎, Robert P. O'Sheac,d, Richard Wattsb,e aDepartment of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand bDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand cDepartment of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand dPsychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia eVan der Veer Institute for Parkinson's and Brain Research, Christchurch, New Zealand ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: To understand the brain areas associated with visual awareness and their anatomical Accepted 20 September 2009 interconnections, we studied binocular rivalry with functional magnetic resonance imaging Available online 25 September 2009 (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Binocular rivalry occurs when one image is viewed by one eye and a different image by the other; it is experienced as perceptual alternations Keywords: between the two images. Our first experiment addressed problems with a popular Visual awareness comparison condition, namely permanentsuppression,bycomparingrivalrywith Conscious perception binocular fusion instead. We found an increased fMRI signal in right frontal, parietal, and Binocular rivalry occipital regions during rivalry viewing. The pattern of neural activity differed from findings Binocular fusion of permanent suppression comparisons, except for adjacent activity in the right superior fMRI parietal lobule. This location was near fMRI signal changes related to reported rivalry DTI tractography alternations in our second experiment, indicating that neighbouring areas in the right parietal cortex may be involved in different components of rivalry.
    [Show full text]
  • On Perceptual Learning and Perspectival Sedimentation
    University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 5-2020 Perceptual Characterization: On Perceptual Learning and Perspectival Sedimentation Anthony Holdier University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Cognitive Psychology Commons, and the Epistemology Commons Citation Holdier, A. (2020). Perceptual Characterization: On Perceptual Learning and Perspectival Sedimentation. Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3656 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Perceptual Characterization: On Perceptual Learning and Perspectival Sedimentation A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy by Anthony Holdier Colorado State University Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, 2009 Denver Seminary Master of Arts in Philosophy of Religion, 2012 May 2020 University of Arkansas This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. ________________________ Jack Lyons, Ph.D. Thesis Director ________________________ ________________________ Amanda McMullen, Ph.D. Eric Funkhouser, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member Abstract In her analysis of perspectival effects on perception, Susanna Siegel has argued that perceptual experience is directly rationally assessable and can thereby justify perceptual beliefs, save for in cases of epistemic downgrade or perceptual hijacking; I contend that the recalcitrance of known illusions poses an insurmountable problem for Siegel‘s thesis. In its place, I argue that a model of perceptual learning informed by the dual-aspect framework of base-level cognitive architecture proposed by Elisabeth Camp successfully answers the questions motivating Siegel‘s project in a manner that avoids such issues.
    [Show full text]
  • M Pathway and Areas 44 and 45 Are Involved in Stereoscopic Recognition Based on Binocular Disparity
    Japanese Journal of Physiology, 52, 191–198, 2002 M Pathway and Areas 44 and 45 Are Involved in Stereoscopic Recognition Based on Binocular Disparity Tsuneo NEGAWA, Shinji MIZUNO*, Tomoya HAHASHI, Hiromi KUWATA†, Mihoko TOMIDA, Hiroaki HOSHI*, Seiichi ERA, and Kazuo KUWATA Departments of Physiology, * Radiology, and † Nursing Course, Gifu University School of Medicine, Gifu, 500–8705 Japan Abstract: We characterized the visual path- was reported that these regions were inactive ways involved in the stereoscopic recognition of during the monocular stereopsis. To separate the the random dot stereogram based on the binocu- specific responses directly caused by the stereo- lar disparity employing a functional magnetic res- scopic recognition process from the nonspecific onance imaging (fMRI). The V2, V3, V4, V5, in- ones caused by the memory load or the inten- traparietal sulcus (IPS) and the superior temporal tion, we designed a novel frequency labeled sulcus (STS) were significantly activated during tasks (FLT) sequence. The functional MRI using the binocular stereopsis, but the inferotemporal the FLT indicated that the activation of areas 44 gyrus (ITG) was not activated. Thus a human M and 45 is correlated with the stereoscopic recog- pathway may be part of a network involved in the nition based on the binocular disparity but not stereoscopic processing based on the binocular with the intention artifacts, suggesting that areas disparity. It is intriguing that areas 44 (Broca’s 44 and 45 play an essential role in the binocular area) and 45 in the left hemisphere were also ac- disparity. [Japanese Journal of Physiology, 52, tive during the binocular stereopsis.
    [Show full text]