A number of behavioural phenomena distinguish the recognition of faces and objects, even when members of a set of objects are highly similar. Because faces have the same parts in approximately the same relations, individuation of faces typically requires speci¢cation of the metric variation in a holistic and integral representation of the facial surface. The direct mapping of a hypercolumn-like pattern of activation onto a representation layer that preserves relative spatial ¢lter values in a two-dimensional (2D) coordinate space, as proposed by C. von der Malsburg and his associates, may account for many of the phenomena associated with face recognition. An additional re¢nement, in which each column of ¢lters (termed a`jet') is centred on a particular facial feature (or ¢ducial point), allows selectivity of the input into the holistic representation to avoid incorporation of occluding or nearby surfaces. The initial hypercolumn representation also characterizes the ¢rst stage of object perception, but the image variation for objects at a given location in a 2D coordinate space may be too great to yield su¤cient predictability directly from the output of spatial kernels. Consequently, objects can be represented by a structural description specifying qualitative (typically, nonaccidental) characterizations of an object's parts, the attributes of the parts, and the relations among the parts, largely based on orientation and depth discontinuities (as shown by Hummel & Biederman). A series of experiments on the name priming or physical matching of complementary images (in the Fourier domain) of objects and faces documents that whereas face recognition is strongly dependent on the original spatial ¢lter values, evidence from object recognition indicates strong invariance to these values, even when distinguishing among objects that are as similar as faces.
The classification of a table as round rather than square, a car as a Mazda rather than a Ford, a drill bit as 3/8-inch rather than 1/4-inch, and a face as Tom have all been regarded as a single process termed "subordinate classification." Despite the common label, the considerable heterogeneity of the perceptual processing required to achieve such classifications requires, minimally, a more detailed taxonomy. Perceptual information relevant to subordinate-level shape classifications can be presumed to vary on continua of (a) the type of distinctive information that is present, nonaccidental or metric, (b) the size of the relevant contours or surfaces, and (c) the similarity of the to-be-discriminated features, such as whether a straight contour has to be distinguished from a contour of low curvature versus high curvature. We consider three, relatively pure cases. Case 1 subordinates may be distinguished by a representation, a geon structural description (GSD), specifying a nonaccidental characterization of an object's large parts and the relations among these parts, such as a round table versus a square table. Case 2 subordinates are also distinguished by GSDs, except that the distinctive GSDs are present at a small scale in a complex object so the location and mapping of the GSDs are contingent on an initial basic-level classification, such as when we use a logo to distinguish various makes of cars. Expertise for Cases 1 and 2 can be easily achieved through specification, often verbal, of the GSDs. Case 3 subordinates, which have furnished much of the grist for theorizing with "view-based" template models, require fine metric discriminations. Cases 1 and 2 account for the overwhelming majority of shape-based basic- and subordinate-level object classifications that people can and do make in their everyday lives. These classifications are typically made quickly, accurately, and with only modest costs of viewpoint changes. Whereas the activation of an array of multiscale, multiorientation filters, presumed to be at the initial stage of all shape processing, may suffice for determining the similarity of the representations mediating recognition among Case 3 subordinate stimuli (and faces), Cases 1 and 2 require that the output of these filters be mapped to classifiers that make explicit the nonaccidental properties, parts, and relations specified by the GSDs.
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