Document Detail


The effects of dot pattern parameters and constraints on the relative salience of vertical bilateral symmetry.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  8776496     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
An analysis of previous studies of bilateral symmetry detection in dot patterns revealed what appeared to be an almost arbitrary choice of pattern parameters and constraints with no systemic examination of the effects of these parameters and constraints on observer performance. In Expt 1, 100-dot patterns either had no constraints on how they were plotted or had one or both of two constraints: either no dot was permitted to be plotted within a fixed distance of any other dot; or randomly selected dot radii were transformed to make the dot distribution more uniform. While a large vertical symmetry salience effect was obtained, both in number correct and reaction time, only marginal differences occurred between the various constraint conditions. However, when number of dots in the pattern was varied in Expt 2, increasing dot number from 10 to 80 had no effect at all on vertical symmetry detection but linearly decreased performance for other axis orientations. Experiments 3 and 4 together suggested that the critical variable producing the performance decrease was number of dots per se, not increasing dot density (which would tend to give all patterns a more circular outline) and not decreasing the distance between neighbouring dot. Thus, the relative salience of vertical over other symmetries is critically dependent on number of dots in the patterns and it is suggested that vertical symmetry is processed globally so that dot pairs are compared in parallel, whereas at other axis orientations symmetry is processed locally so that dot pairs are compared in serial fashion. Possible neurophysiological and cognitive factors are discussed which might account for the relative performances with different symmetry axis orientations.
Authors:
P Wenderoth
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Clinical Trial; Controlled Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Vision research     Volume:  36     ISSN:  0042-6989     ISO Abbreviation:  Vision Res.     Publication Date:  1996 Aug 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  1996-10-24     Completed Date:  1996-10-24     Revised Date:  2006-11-15    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0417402     Medline TA:  Vision Res     Country:  ENGLAND    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  2311-20     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, School of Behavioural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. peterw@vision.bhs.mq.edu.au
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Humans
Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
Reaction Time
Rotation

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


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