Abstract
A scene prime can induce a mental representation of layout that is functional in the sense that it facilitates the processing of depth relations in a subsequent same-scene target. Five experiments indicated that the representation can consist of separate and independent functional regions. In each experiment, primes with as many as four unrelated regions facilitated spatial processing within each region. The prime representations were functional despite structural discontinuity at region borders. The results indicate a limitation in the importance of structural constraint in representations of scene layout. However, when structural disruption occurred within regions that were perceived (Experiment 5), spatial processing was slowed. The results suggest that scene representation is more top down than is scene perception; the effects of structural disruption were overcome within representations, but not within perception.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andersen, G. J., Hahn, S., &Saidpour, A. (2001). Static scene information and the perception of locomotion [Abstract].Journal of Vision,1, 2a. Available at journalofvision.org/1/3/2, DOI 10.1167/1.3.2.
Biederman, I. (1981). On the semantics of a glance at a scene. In M. Kubovy & J. R. Pomerantz (Eds.),Perceptual organization (pp. 213–253). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Biederman, I. (1987). Recognition-by-components: A theory of human image understanding.Psychological Review,94, 115–147.
Biederman, I., Hilton, H. J., &Hummel, J. E. (1991). Pattern goodness and pattern recognition. In G. R. Lockhead & J. R. Pomerantz (Eds.),The perception of structure: Essays in honor of Wendell R. Garner (pp. 73–95). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Boyce, S. J., Pollatsek, A., &Rayner, K. (1989). Effect of background information on object identification.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,15, 556–566.
Chun, M. M., &Jiang, Y. (1998). Contextual cuing: Implicit learning and memory of visual context guides spatial attention.Cognitive Psychology,36, 28–71.
Davenport, J. L., &Potter, M. C. (2004). Scene consistency in object and background perception.Psychological Science,15, 559–564.
Di Lollo, V. (1980). Temporal integration in visual memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,109, 75–97.
Enns, J. T., &Rensink, R. A. (1991). Preattentive recovery of three-dimensional orientation from line drawings.Psychological Review,98, 335–351.
Gottesman, C. V. (2002, November).Mental extrapolations as primes for spatial layout processing. Presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Kansas City, MO.
Grossberg, S., &Mingolla, E. (1985). Neural dynamics of form perception: Boundary completion, illusory figures, and neon color spreading.Psychological Review,92, 173–211.
Henderson, J. M., &Hollingworth, A. (1998). Eye movements during scene viewing: An overview. In G. Underwood (Ed.),Eye guidance in reading and scene perception (pp. 269–293). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Hochberg, J. E. (1978).Perception (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Hochberg, J. [E.], &Peterson, M. A. (1987). Piecemeal organization and cognitive components in object perception: Perceptually coupled responses to moving objects.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,116, 370–380.
Hummel, J. E., &Biederman, I. (1992). Dynamic binding in a neural network for shape recognition.Psychological Review,99, 480–517.
Intraub, H. (2002). Anticipatory spatial representation of natural scenes: Momentum without movement?Visual Cognition,9, 93–119.
Marr, D. (1982).Vision. San Francisco: Freeman.
McClelland, J. L., &Rumelhart, D. E. (1981). An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: I. An account of basic findings.Psychological Review,88, 375–407.
Milner, A. D., &Goodale, M. A. (1995).The visual brain in action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Norman, J. (2002). Two visual systems and two theories of perception: An attempt to reconcile the constructivist and ecological approaches.Behavioral & Brain Sciences,25, 73–96.
Palmer, S. E. (1999).Vision science: Photons to phenomenology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Palmer, S. [E.], &Rock, I. (1994). Rethinking perceptual organization: The role of uniform connectedness.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,1, 29–55.
Penney, T. B., Mecklinger, A., Hilton, H. J., &Cooper, L. A. (2000). Priming and recognition of novel 3D objects: Guidance from eventrelated potentials.Cognitive Science Quarterly,1, 67–90.
Rueckl, J. G., Mikolinski, M., Raveh, M., Miner, C. S., &Mars, F. (1997). Morphological priming, fragment completion, and connectionist networks.Journal of Memory & Language,36, 382–405.
Sanocki, T. (2003). Representation and perception of scenic layout.Cognitive Psychology,47, 43–86.
Sanocki, T., &Epstein, W. (1997). Priming spatial layout of scenes.Psychological Science,8, 374–378.
Schacter, D. L., Cooper, L. A., Delaney, S. M., &Peterson, M. A. (1991). Implicit memory for possible and impossible objects: Constraints on the construction of structural descriptions.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,17, 3–19.
Schöne, H. (1984).Spatial orientation: The spatial control of behavior in animals and man (C. Strausfeld, Trans.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Shepard, R. N. (1984). Ecological constraints on internal representation: Resonant kinematics of perceiving, imagining, thinking, and dreaming.Psychological Review,91, 417–447.
Tversky, B., Kim, J., &Cohen, A. (1999). Mental models of spatial relations and transformations from language. In G. Rickheit & C. Habel (Eds.),Mental models in discourse processing and reasoning (pp. 239–258). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Vishton, P. M., &Cutting, J. E. (1995). Wayfinding, displacements, and mental maps: Velocity fields are not typically used to determine one's aimpoint.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,21, 978–995.
Wertheimer, M. (1950). Gestalt theory. In W. D. Ellis (Ed.),A source-book of Gestalt psychology (pp. 1–11). New York: Humanities Press. (Original work published 1924)
Witkin, A. P., &Tenenbaum, J. M. (1983). On the role of structure in vision. In J. Beck, B. Hope, & A. Rosenfeld (Eds.),Human and machine vision (pp. 481–543). New York: Academic Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sanocki, T., Michelet, K., Sellers, E. et al. Representations of scene layout can consist of independent, functional pieces. Perception & Psychophysics 68, 415–427 (2006). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193686
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193686