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Ariella V Popple

Publications and source records attributed to Ariella V Popple.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Context effects on texture border localization bias.

Observers are able to locate precisely a border defined by changes in texture orientation. The prevailing theory is that such localization takes place using a hierarchical, filter-rectify-filter mechanism. An alternative theory is that contextual modulation causes the border elements to stand out. Here we show that perceived border location is inconsistent with contextual modulation from iso-oriented elements. The perceived location of a vertical border defined by vertical texture on one side, and horizontal texture on the other side, is biased towards the vertical texture. We found the same bias in a single row of texture. Therefore, the bias is not due to contextual influences from surrounding iso-oriented elements. Contextual influences between cross-oriented elements can explain the data.

Field Dependence-Independence↗
PubMed2002

The importance of spatial scale in determining illusions of orientation.

The twisted-cord illusion is a powerful demonstration of interaction between 1st-order (luminance-defined) and 2nd-order (contrast-defined) orientation processing. The perceived orientation of contrast-defined objects is pulled towards their 1st-order orientation content when the difference in orientation is small (Fraser effect), yet is pushed away from the 1st-order content at large orientation differences (Zöllner effect). Here we show that the relative spatial scale of carrier and envelope represents a decisive factor in determining the magnitude and direction of such interactions. We conclude that the perceived 2nd-order structure of a stimulus is biased by the properties of the 1st-order structure in a manner that depends on relative, rather than absolute spatial scale.

Form Perception↗
PubMed2002

Set-size effects for spatial frequency change and discrimination in multiple targets.

In visual search tasks with a near-threshold target amongst distracters, log detection thresholds rise in proportion to the log of the number of stimuli. Previous research has shown a very steep slope for this set-size effect where the target is a change in spatial frequency (SF) across an ISI, suggesting a low-level explanation for 'change blindness (Wright et al., 2000). Here, we analyse stimulus and task variables in order to determine the contributions of stimulus detection and attention processes. Stimuli consisted of two 150 ms frames each containing 1 to 4 Gabor targets, with an ISI of 250 ms. In a 2AFC detection task with uniform distracters, slopes of 0.23-0.52 were found, in line with visual search results. 2AFC SF discrimination tasks gave slopes of 0.68, 0.69 with homogeneous distracters and 0.76-0.96 with inhomogeneous distracters, consistent with averaging of stimuli within a frame. If the distracters were also made to change across ISI, averaging was impossible, and focal attention was required to solve the discrimination. This always gave set-size slopes > 1. It is concluded that, under conditions where a stimulus array can be analysed globally, change detection performance is limited by signal detection mechanisms, rather than limited capacity attention or memory mechanisms. However, where this is prevented, for example by changing more than one item, limitations due to attention or memory produce an even steeper set-size effect.

Attention↗
PubMed2002

Effects of negative afterimages in visual illusions.

We show that a broad class of visual illusions, including illusory motion, can be explained by the effects of negative afterimages. Two new illusions, illusory shading and illusory tilting, are devised on the basis of the proposed explanation. The general feature of these illusions is an alternation between a high-contrast (white or black) and a low-contrast (gray) local input signal, which can be caused either by eye motion over patterns of varied luminance or by a change in such patterns over time. A simple model of the local signal dynamics qualitatively reproduces the illusory effects by adding the negative afterimage to the original visual stimulus.

Afterimage↗