For questions regarding the visual system, which serves to transduce light energy into neural impulses, or regarding visual perception, how we interpret such incoming visual information.
20
votes
1answer
298 views
The effects of bilingualism on colour perception
Peltola et al. (2012) showed that there are two types of bilinguals.
Balanced bilinguals mix their two languages and are effected by linguistic categories from both.
Dominant bilinguals seem to ...
17
votes
3answers
166 views
Why does the human visual system produce a bright patch after staring at a bright light source and looking away?
If a person looks at a bright light source, such as a light bulb or perhaps the sun for a period of time, and then looks away and closes their eyes, they typically see a bright patch in the shape of ...
16
votes
5answers
353 views
Why do we prefer visually aligned objects?
We all know visual alignment is one of the foundations of design. Everything must be aligned with everything else.
We also know that when things are aligned it is easier to process information.
My ...
15
votes
3answers
4k views
Why would the brain flip the images perceived by your eyes?
The following is a common scientific statement, which you don't have to google long for to find:
The eye views images upside-down in the manner of a camera lens, but
our brains reinterpret this ...
13
votes
1answer
242 views
Why is white on black considered higher contrast than black on white?
While researching to answer Why are "Inverted Colors" considered an accessibility feature? I noticed the puzzling claim that "White text on a black background is a higher contrast to the opposite, so ...
12
votes
1answer
265 views
What concepts of perception should designers be aware of when designing?
Visual perception is a huge topic, much of which is relevant to the work of a designer. I have identified topics in visual memory, visual cognition and colour perception that are relevant, and I'm ...
11
votes
3answers
229 views
Is it possible for certain people to perceive colors differently?
What if someone perceives a color as 'red' when it is actually 'green'?
Since different people have preferences for different colors, and colors are perhaps constructed in the mind, is it possible ...
11
votes
1answer
109 views
How is the size of a video related to its perceived quality?
Video is often presented at different sizes. On the Internet, many websites provide quite a few size settings. In the store, you can buy TVs of many different sizes. In both cases, it's the same ...
10
votes
1answer
235 views
Under what conditions does 60hz video produce visual artifacts?
There are some important thresholds of frame rate in video playback that effect whether or not animation appears fluid. This wikipedia page about Visible Frame Rate suggests that a framerate of 60 ...
9
votes
1answer
174 views
How do humans control saccades?
I've gathered the standard rational for a visual system utilizing saccades from perception textbooks: the neural cost of processing an entire scene at a high level of detail would be prohibitive, but ...
9
votes
3answers
214 views
Simulate colorblindness in non-colorblind individuals
Is there any way by which individuals with normal color vision could "see" the effects of Deuteranopia or any of the common colorblindness types, say by using special lenses or anything?
Color ...
9
votes
1answer
142 views
Is there an effect of visual expertise on eye movements when examining an image?
In the following linked image, you can see the eye movement traces of a subject examining a bust of Nefertiti (I came across this image while reading the following blog).
When I was in grade ...
9
votes
3answers
105 views
Images on personal computers - Which aspect of size to keep constant?
For various reasons we're doing a reaction time study involving images that runs on unstandardized equipment: patients' personal computers (unless they don't meet certain requirements).
It's not about ...
8
votes
2answers
205 views
How does the brain act on the information gained via eye saccades?
I've often heard that the process of saccading can be described as a statistical sampling technique. Specifically, the standard textbook definition of the function of saccades seems to be that the ...
8
votes
2answers
163 views
What is the “static” in human vision called?
Sort of like a cheap digital Camera, the human eye has certain feedback that's perceived but doesn't actually exist in the real world; a little layer of Static that's especially noticeable in pitch ...
8
votes
1answer
138 views
Origin of the SEEV Model of visual attention distribution
What's the original source of the SEEV (Salience Effort Expectancy Value) Model for predicting the distribution of visual attention? I've seen it mentioned in many papers and presentations but ...
8
votes
1answer
307 views
What is the current status of tetrachromacy in humans?
Tetrachromacy is a condition of having four colour channels. There is a hypothesis that some women posses 4 different types of cone cells (each with different opsin responsible for different ...
7
votes
3answers
436 views
Is it possible to improve reading speed and visual comprehension by doing exercises?
Background
I'm trying to capture detailed information from the images in my visual memory, mainly text. My daily life requires reading many documents on varying topics. I want to increase my reading ...
7
votes
1answer
123 views
To what extent do individuals vary in their ability to mentally visualise?
Background:
Yesterday I was shocked when a friend of mine told me that he can see only "completely black darkness" when he closes he eyes.
When I close my eyes, I can see some images or "movies" of ...
7
votes
1answer
139 views
How do people that can't perceive 3D view a stereoscopic 3D image or movie?
According to Mendiburu (2009), 3-15% of the people can't view a stereoscopic 3D image or movie, mostly due to poor binocular vision.
Imagine one of those is in the movie theater, trying to watch a 3D ...
7
votes
1answer
83 views
Are there shapes defined by 3 (or more) generative parameters whose mapping to psychological similarity space is known?
I am trying to generate 4 shapes that are equidistant in psychological similarity space - meaning that they are all equally discriminable from one another - which differ in 3 parameters, such that ...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
Is Apple's iPhone Retina Display really accurate to human eye resolution?
Apple based their Retina Display on the following claim, as cited by Wikipedia:
The display has a contrast ratio of 800:1. The screen is marketed by Apple as the "Retina Display", based on the ...
7
votes
2answers
89 views
What neural mechanism explains the tendency to visually attend to the whole scene before attending to details?
I have the intuition that human vision first attends to large-scale objects and then small-scale details. Is there any mechanism in the visual cortex that will explain this phenomenon? Is there a ...
6
votes
1answer
53 views
Any research on how we use visual category information in visuomotor tasks?
So I've been reading up on the Two-streams Hypothesis*, and it bothers me that the explanations both sides give only extend to tasks involving one type of visual information. For example, an ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
Do we recognize ourselves better when we see our mirror image?
A friend of mine recently noticed that we both have a birthmark on the face. He looked at me and said that we have exactly the same mark. But he has it left and I right. But, when looking in a mirror, ...
6
votes
1answer
145 views
How much red/orange is needed to stimulate hunger?
A common claim thrown around is that red and orange are great for restaurants because it stimulates hunger. However, I've heard time and time again that this does not work in web design because you ...
6
votes
1answer
148 views
How do people visually recognize their own reflection?
I'm interested in how the brain processes and recognizes the image of the person's own face.
A bit of background:
A while ago I've developed an overlay-camera like app for iPhone that allows me to ...
6
votes
1answer
148 views
What is the brain power devoted to vision and haptics?
I heard a talk by Vincent Hayward on the sense of touch as a multi-modal system, where he claimed that the brain power devoted to haptics is at least as big as the one devoted to vision. I have found ...
5
votes
2answers
65 views
Minimum duration for presenting a visual stimulus on screen
My experiment involves presenting simple visual stimuli briefly on screen (200 ms to 1000 ms). The stimuli would be simple enough (e.g. a circle and a line) but I want to use a range of durations to ...
5
votes
1answer
102 views
Perceptual flicker when rotating my face
Informal Experiment:
I look up at a wooden beam on the ceiling, or I look at the office door; both the door and the ceiling are about 2 meters from my face.
I rotate my face 90 degrees left or right ...
5
votes
0answers
36 views
Rated model of driving-related processes and objects
The SEEV-Model for predicting the distribution of visual attention contains a parameter called 'value' which represents the importance of a certain area of the field of view concerning a given task ...
4
votes
3answers
96 views
Are there any cognitive models for visual navigation?
I've seen a few neuroscience accounts of visual navigation and many A.I. projects, but no psychologically plausible accounts that actually solve the computational problem (i.e. produce a working ...
4
votes
1answer
55 views
Asaccadia adaptation
Can asaccadia (i.e., lack of saccades, due to neuronal or muscular damage) be overcome? Do other muscles (e.g., neck) compensate? Are the resulting gaze patterns the same as for saccades, and are they ...
4
votes
0answers
24 views
Are there any models of the human visual field of view taking into account head, neck and eye movements and calculating likelihood of fixation?
I would like to know if there are studies that (1) model the field of view taking into account all degrees of freedom of the head, neck and eyes and (2) if there is any probabilistic model assigned to ...
3
votes
2answers
238 views
Where is the visual “image” that we “see” finally assembled?
David Hubel's online book, Eye, Brain and Vision describes in great detail our early visual system. The image that we are conscious of when we open our eyes goes through a complex path:
The final ...
3
votes
2answers
159 views
What does hemispatial neglect vision look like?
I need to know more about hemispatial neglect, in order to compose a picture of what it would look like to someone who has this issue.
Is there any resources for finding more about their actual ...
3
votes
1answer
38 views
What is the proper term for the synchronization of eye movements?
In humans and most two eyed species, eye movements synchronize so that both eyes are focused on the same point. This facilitates 3D vision significantly, allowing bifocal cues. I remember reading a ...
3
votes
1answer
56 views
What's the name of the quantifying preference for visual stimulus by varying size or distance as compared to a reference task?
Say that you enjoy looking at two beautiful paintings (A and B). But you really can't tell which one you like more, and you want to (quantitatively).
So, you compare them both to your favorite ...
3
votes
0answers
55 views
How is light processed by the human brain when awake and in dreams?
I've recently seen this great video: How your brain tells you where you are. The video discusses how certain cells within the brain fire based on proximity to objects. There are great examples of ...
2
votes
0answers
24 views
Does the subjective experience of artificial light brightness vary for people, if so, by how much?
I'm thinking about human perception and particularly the experience of how bright artificial light is. I'm talking about dusk, when the sun has set and only street lamps and light reflecting off ...
2
votes
0answers
61 views
Inducing Auditory-to-Visual Synesthesia
I recently watched an interesting video that was discussing conveying color to the blind through language. It implied that there may be a way to insert the sensation of color into a person's mind via ...
0
votes
0answers
59 views
Subtle manipulation in commercials - Kindle Fire HD [closed]
I was watching the new kindle commercial and I noticed a few things that seemed to make me lean towards the NEW Kindle Fire HD (They emphasize "new" a lot)
One of the things that stood out to me the ...
