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Rapid processing of closure and viewpoint-invariant symmetry: behavioral criteria for feedforward processing

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Abstract

To pin down the processing characteristics of symmetry and closure in contour processing, we investigated their ability to activate rapid motor responses in a primed flanker task. In three experiments, participants selected as quickly and accurately as possible the one of two target contours possessing symmetry or closure. Target pairs were preceded by prime pairs whose spatial arrangement was consistent or inconsistent with respect to the required response. We tested for the efficiency and automaticity of symmetry and closure processing. For both cues, priming effects were present in full magnitude in the fastest motor responses consistent with a simple feedforward model. Priming effects from symmetry cues were independent of skewing and the orientation of their symmetry axis but sometimes failed to increase with increasing prime-target interval. We conclude that closure and (possibly) viewpoint-independent symmetry cues are extracted rapidly during the first feedforward wave of neuronal processing.

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Notes

  1. Here, we focus on bilateral (mirror, reflection) symmetry only, because this form of symmetry is the most salient, most investigated and most relevant to humans (Treder, 2010). We will use the term “symmetry” to refer to “bilateral symmetry”.

  2. Figure-ground segregation is the process by which the visual system distinguishes a figure from its background. It is crucial for object recognition and for physical interactions with our environment. The identification of an image area as a figure or background strongly depends on the visual attributes of that area. Importantly, an area that is symmetric or enclosed is more likely to be seen as a figure than an (adjacent) area that is asymmetric (e.g., Bahnsen, 1928; Machilsen, Pauwels, & Wagemans, 2009) or open (e.g., Koffka, 1935; Kovács & Julesz, 1993).

  3. The notion of closure as a basic feature that is detected and processed by the visual system in a parallel fashion is not without controversy (e.g., Enns, 1986). Also, there is no unequivocal evidence that the processing of closure is automatic.

  4. Note that the rapid-chase criteria do not guarantee that the system is strictly feedback-free (e.g., VanRullen & Koch, 2003) but establish it to be indistinguishable from a pure feedforward system.

  5. While grouping strength can be easily matched for some grouping dimensions (e.g., similarity in brightness or size; Schmidt & Schmidt, submitted), matching is difficult to achieve with more complex grouping principles. Imagine, for example, participants adjusting the amount of symmetry in a given figure such that it is equal to the perceived amount of closure in another figure.

  6. Note that errors in inconsistent trials represent motor responses that were misled by the conflicting prime information. This follows from response priming experiments with pointing responses, in which primes initiate a response toward them and sometimes provoke a full-fledged movement to their position (cf. Schmidt et al., 2006), and experiments measuring lateralized readiness potentials (Eimer & Schlaghecken, 1998; Leuthold & Kopp, 1998; Vath & Schmidt, 2007). Priming effects in error rates, as in response times, increase with prime-target SOA because the prime signal has more time to influence the response before the target signal becomes effective (cf. Schmidt et al., 2011; Vorberg et al., 2003).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Shanley Allen, Neiloufar Family, Kalliopi Katsika, Mark Calley, Andreas Weber, Alina Kholodova, and Anke Haberkamp for comments on an early version of the manuscript and Michael Herzog, Rob van Lier, Johan Wagemans, and Rufin VanRullen for helpful suggestions. This research was supported by Schm1671/1-5 of the German Research Foundation to T.S.

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  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, Psychology I, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Str. Geb. 57, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany

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Schmidt, F., Schmidt, T. Rapid processing of closure and viewpoint-invariant symmetry: behavioral criteria for feedforward processing. Psychological Research 78, 37–54 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-013-0478-8

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