Document Detail


Where is the light? Bayesian perceptual priors for lighting direction.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19324801     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Perception of shaded three-dimensional figures is inherently ambiguous, but this ambiguity can be resolved if the brain assumes that figures are lit from a specific direction. Under the Bayesian framework, the visual system assigns a weighting to each possible direction, and these weightings define a prior probability distribution for light-source direction. Here, we describe a non-parametric maximum-likelihood estimation method for finding the prior distribution for lighting direction. Our results suggest that each observer has a distinct prior distribution, with non-zero values in all directions, but with a peak which indicates observers are biased to expect light to come from above left. The implications of these results for estimating general perceptual priors are discussed.
Authors:
J V Stone; I S Kerrigan; J Porrill
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2009-02-25
Journal Detail:
Title:  Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society     Volume:  276     ISSN:  0962-8452     ISO Abbreviation:  Proc. Biol. Sci.     Publication Date:  2009 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-04-08     Completed Date:  2009-07-02     Revised Date:  2010-09-22    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101245157     Medline TA:  Proc Biol Sci     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1797-804     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TP, UK. j.v.stone@shef.ac.uk
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Bayes Theorem
Humans
Light*
Likelihood Functions
Models, Theoretical
Visual Perception / physiology*
Comments/Corrections

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Distinguishing epidemic waves from disease spillover in a wildlife population.
Next Document:  Losses of female song with changes from tropical to temperate breeding in the New World blackbirds.