Abstract
Contemporary feature models of form perception have typically defined visual similarity in terms of shared (or discordant) sets of points. Two experiments tested the adequacy of this definition. In a same/different task, subjects were required to detect a single “different” form in displays of two, four, or six forms. In separate conditions, the “different” form was produced by various geometric transformations, where the number of discordant points could be held constant for some of those transformations. The first experiment compared the detectability of three transformations: deletion of an end-of-a-line segment, a break in continuity, and a mirror-image reversal. Reversals were detected most rapidly and accurately, with performance independent of display size. Although breaks and deletions produced the same number of discordant points, breaks were detected more rapidly and accurately. The second experiment tested whether the better detectability of reversals was due to a greater number of discordant points or to changes in the orientation of diagonal lines. The results indicated that entire displays can be rapidly organized (in “parallel”) on the basis of line orientations. In general, the experiments suggest that the similarity of forms may depend upon the transformations by which they are related rather than their common features.
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Singer, M. H., Allen, T. A., & Lappin, J. S.Differential abilities of good and dyslexic readers to discriminate visual and auditory sequences. Paper presented at the meeting of the Southeastern Conference on Linguistics. Nashville, March, 1975.
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This research was supported in part by Public Health Service Grant MH 21105. The report was written while the authors were Supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation and the Vanderbilt University Research Council.
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Singer, M.H., Lappin, J.S. Similarity: Its definition and effect on the visual analysis of complex displays. Perception & Psychophysics 19, 405–411 (1976). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199400
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199400