The Influence of Perception on the Distribution of Multiple Symmetries in Nature and Art

Helm, Peter A. van der

doi:10.3390/sym3010054

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 67 publications

(95 reference statements)

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“…However, there is also difficulty with this interpretation, due to the fact that there is not always a correspondence between preference and detection performance. In addition, while we found that preference increased with the tested number of axes, there may not be a monotonic relationship between goodness and the number of axes in multiple symmetric patterns [46].…”

Section: Theoretic Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 55%

Reduction of Image Complexity Explains Aesthetic Preference for Symmetry

Chen

Wu²,

2011

Symmetry

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Symmetric patterns are more appealing to human observers than asymmetric ones. Here, we investigate the visual information processing mechanisms underlying this aesthetic preference. All stimuli were derived from phase scrambled versions of forty face or nature images. In addition to the scrambled images, there were four other types of test image: symmetric, in which one part of the image was a reflection of another around an axis; repetitive, in which one part of the image was a copy of the other; anti-symmetric, similar to symmetric but with the contrast of one side reversed; and interleaved patterns, in which half of the symmetric pattern was replaced by a scrambled image. The number of axes ranged from 1 to 16 for all image types. The task of our 20 observers was to give a preference rating to each image on a 6-point Lickert scale. The preference rating increased with the number of axes for all stimulus types. The observers showed a similar preference for symmetric and repetitive patterns and slightly less preference for anti-symmetric patterns. The preference for interleaved patterns was much less than for other types of stimuli. Preference for an image cannot be explained by either the ecological significance of its content or the slope of its amplitude spectrum. Instead, preference can be accounted for by the complexity of the image.

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Section: Theoretic Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 55%

Reduction of Image Complexity Explains Aesthetic Preference for Symmetry

Chen

Wu²,

2011

Symmetry

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show abstract

“…The failure to recognize this crucial point has led to overly strong claims (see also Bowers & Davis, 2012a, 2012b. For instance, Chater (1996) claimed that the simplicity and likelihood principles in perception are equivalent, but this claim assumed implicitly -and incorrectly -that any Bayesian model automatically implies compliance with the Helmholtzian likelihood principle (van der Helm, 2000(van der Helm, , 2011a. This may be clarified further as follows.…”

Section: Bayesian Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, to determine if the Bayesian formulation of the simplicity principle complies with the likelihood principle, one should assess how close the latter 's objective probabilities pw and the former's artifical probabilities pa might be (van der Helm, 2000(van der Helm, , 2011a. This is discussed further in the next section, but notice that a proof of equivalence of the principles is out of the question, simply because the pw are unknown.…”

Section: Select the Hypothesis H That Maximizes Pa(h|d)=pa(h)*pa(d|h)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplicity in Perceptual Organization

Helm

2014

Oxford Handbooks Online

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A long-standing debate in perception concerns the question of whether perceptual organization is guided by internal efficiency (the simplicity principle) or by external veridicality (the likelihood principle). This article focuses on the simplicity principle which is a modern information-theoretic version of Occam's razor, but also compares it to the likelihood principle which reflects classical information theory. Both principles can be modeled by Bayes' rule which combines quantifications of view-independent and view-dependent factors to predict stimulus interpretations. Whereas the likelihood principle relies on hardly quantifiable frequencies of occurrence of things in the world, the simplicity principle relies on better quantifiable structural complexities of individual things. The simplicity principle is further argued to be sufficiently veridical in everyday perception, and neurally realizable via cognitive architecture enabling transparallel processing. This quantum-like form of representational processing relates to connectionist modeling and complements dynamic-systems ideas about neuronal synchronization.

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“…In fact, studies have shown that both female swallows [1] and finches [2] prefer symmetric males, and honey bees [3] can discriminate symmetry from non-symmetry. Such studies have suggested to some that symmetry in the visual world has played a causal role in the evolution of our visual systems and hence our sensitivity to symmetry, or vice versa [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mirror Symmetry Is Subject to Crowding

Roddy

Gurnsey

2011

Symmetry

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Mirror symmetry is often thought to be particularly salient to human observers because it engages specialized mechanisms that evolved to sense symmetrical objects in nature. Although symmetry is indeed present in many of our artifacts and markings on wildlife, studies have shown that sensitivity to mirror symmetry does not serve an alerting function and sensitivity to symmetry decreases in a rather unremarkable way when it is presented away from the centre of the visual field. Here we show that symmetrical targets are vulnerable to the same interference as other stimuli when surrounded by non-target elements. These results provide further evidence that symmetry is not special to the early visual system, and reinforce the notion that our fascination with symmetry is more likely attributable to cognitive and aesthetic factors than to specialized, low level mechanisms in the visual system.

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The Influence of Perception on the Distribution of Multiple Symmetries in Nature and Art

Cited by 26 publications

References 67 publications

Reduction of Image Complexity Explains Aesthetic Preference for Symmetry

Reduction of Image Complexity Explains Aesthetic Preference for Symmetry

Simplicity in Perceptual Organization

Mirror Symmetry Is Subject to Crowding

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