Characteristics and models of human symmetry detection

Wagemans, Johan

doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(97)01105-4

Cited by 214 publications

(194 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…These mechanisms operate on simple image properties, independent of object identity. Consistent with this view, a low-level, biologically plausible model of symmetry detection performs well on natural images (Scognomilio et al 2003; see also Wagemans 1997;Dakin & Herbert 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Bilateral symmetry is highly salient to humans and other animals (Corballis & Beale 1976;Lehrer et al 1994;Baylis & Driver 1995;Møller & Swaddle 1997;Wagemans 1997). It facilitates early visual processes, such as figureground segmentation (Rock 1983) and the perception of surface orientation (Saunders & Knill 2001), and it can be detected pre-attentively (Driver et al 1992;Wolfe & Friedman-Hill 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Higher-level mechanisms detect facial symmetry

et al. 2005

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The role of symmetry detection in early visual processing and the sensitivity of biological visual systems to symmetry across a wide range of organisms suggest that symmetry can be detected by low-level visual mechanisms. However, computational and functional considerations suggest that higher-level mechanisms may also play a role in facial symmetry detection. We tested this hypothesis by examining whether symmetry detection is better for faces than comparable patterns, which share low-level properties with faces. Symmetry detection was better for upright faces than for inverted faces (experiment 1) and contrastreversed faces (experiment 2), implicating high-level mechanisms in facial symmetry detection. In addition, facial symmetry detection was sensitive to spatial scale, unlike low-level symmetry detection mechanisms (experiment 3), and showed greater sensitivity to a 458 deviation from vertical than is found for other aspects of face perception (experiment 4). These results implicate specialized, higher-level mechanisms in the detection of facial symmetry. This specialization may reflect perceptual learning resulting from extensive experience detecting symmetry in faces or evolutionary selection pressures associated with the important role of facial symmetry in mate choice and 'mind-reading' or both.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher-level mechanisms detect facial symmetry

et al. 2005

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“…This was so that both underestimates and overestimates were equally possible for the moveable stimulus, but it also introduced asymmetry. As symmetry relates to Gestalt 'goodness' or 'pragnantz' (Kubovy, Holcombe & Wagemans, 1998;Wagemans, 1997), and also the four stimuli presented in the test booklet (two target and two non-target, see Figure 1) were symmetrically aligned, participants might have been biased towards symmetry.…”

Section: Experimental Trialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual grouping and distance estimates in typical and atypical development: Comparing performance across perception, drawing and construction tasks

Farran

Cole

2008

Brain and Cognition

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Perceptual grouping is a pre-attentive process which serves to group local elements into global wholes, based on shared properties. One effect of perceptual grouping is to distort the ability to estimate the distance between two elements. In this study, biases in distance estimates, caused by four types of perceptual grouping, were measured across three tasks, a perception, a drawing and a construction task in both typical development (TD; Experiment 1) and in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS; Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, perceptual grouping distorted distance estimates across all three tasks. Interestingly, the effect of grouping by luminance was in the opposite direction to the effects of the remaining grouping types. We relate this to differences in the ability to inhibit perceptual grouping effects on distance estimates. Additive distorting influences were also observed in the drawing and the construction task, which are explained in terms of the points of reference employed in each task. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the above distortion effects are also observed in WS. Given the known deficit in the ability to use perceptual grouping in WS, this suggests a dissociation between the pre-attentive influence of and the attentive deployment of perceptual grouping in WS. The typical distortion in relation to drawing and construction points towards the presence of some typical location coding strategies in WS. The performance of the WS group differed from the TD participants on two counts. First, the pattern of overall distance estimates (averaged across interior and exterior distances) across the four perceptual grouping types, differed between groups. Second, the distorting influence of perceptual grouping was strongest for grouping by shape similarity in WS, which contrasts to a strength in grouping by proximity observed in the TD participants.

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“…In fact, several models have been proposed in the attempt to explain how symmetry is detected and analyzed by the brain (e.g., [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]). Among the most acknowledged models, the perceptual rules proposed by Gestalt psychologists suggested that our preference for symmetric configurations ("symmetry bias") could be considered as a consequence of the perceptual preference for regularity and balance, compared to randomness and imbalance, by the human visual system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetry for Symmetry: Right-Hemispheric Superiority in Bi-Dimensional Symmetry Perception

Prete

Fabri

Foschi³

et al. 2017

Symmetry

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Abstract:A right-hemispheric superiority has been shown for spatial symmetry perception with mono-dimensional stimuli (e.g., bisected lines). Nevertheless, the cerebral imbalance for bi-dimensional stimuli is still controversial, and the aim of the present study is to investigate this issue. Healthy participants and a split-brain patient (D.D.C.) were tested in a divided visual field paradigm, in which a square shape was presented either in the left or right visual field and they were asked to judge whether a dot was placed exactly in the center of the square or off-center, by using the left/right hand in two separate sessions. The performance of healthy participants was better when the stimuli presented in the left visual field (LVF) were on-center rather than off-center. The performance of D.D.C. was higher than chance only when on-center stimuli were presented in the LVF in the left hand session. Only in this condition did his accuracy not differ with respect to that of the control group, whereas in all of the other conditions, it was lower than the controls' accuracy. We conclude that the right-hemispheric advantage already shown for mono-dimensional stimuli can be extended also to bi-dimensional configurations, confirming the right-hemispheric superiority for spatial symmetry perception.

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Characteristics and models of human symmetry detection

Cited by 214 publications

References 37 publications

Higher-level mechanisms detect facial symmetry

Higher-level mechanisms detect facial symmetry

Perceptual grouping and distance estimates in typical and atypical development: Comparing performance across perception, drawing and construction tasks

Asymmetry for Symmetry: Right-Hemispheric Superiority in Bi-Dimensional Symmetry Perception

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