Analyses of awareness and structure-recovering processes in visual completion

• Project/Area Number: 11410019
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B).
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 実験系心理学
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: GYOBA Jiro Tohoku University, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Associate Professor, 大学院・文学研究科, 助教授 (50142899)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KITAOKA Akiyoshi Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, Chief Researcher, 主事研究員 (70234234) ; SAKURAI Kenzo Tohoku-Gakuin University, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Professor, 教養学部, 教授 (40183818)
• Project Period (FY): 1999 – 2000
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2000)
• Budget Amount: ¥5,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,900,000); Fiscal Year 2000: ¥2,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000); Fiscal Year 1999: ¥3,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000)
• Keywords: visual completion / visual phantoms / modal completion / amodal completion / visual development / grating / perceptual awareness

Research Abstract

In spite of partial loss of stimulus information, the vistual system can complete the loss and generate equivalent percepts to the case that complete information is given. In the present study, visual phantoms were intensively investigated as a representative phenomenon of such visual completion effects. The phantoms are perceived when a central portion of grating is covered up with an opaque occluder, connecting top and bottom section of the grating across the occluder. The phantom illusion is a unique phenomenon that has aspects of both modal completion and amodal completion, providing us with a good opportunity to investigate them together.
Kitaoka, Gyoba, ＆ Kawabata (1999) found that low-contrast inducing gratings can produce phantoms even in photopic vision when the occluder luminance is quite low or high. This new type of completion phenomena is called "photopic phantoms". Brown, Gyoba, ＆ May (in press) revealed that phantoms are generated with global figural fidelity to oblique i nducing grating, while the ordinal grating induction effect occurs depending on local luminance changes. Kawabata, Gyoba, Inoue, ＆ Ohtsubo (1999) clearly demonstrated that infants under 1 month of age can perceive the continuation of the grating behind the occluder, if the spatial frequency of the grating is low and the occluder height is narrow. Furthermore, Kawabata, Gyoba, Inoue, ＆ Ohtsubo (in press) showed that 4 month-old infants can perceive the grating continuation under broader occluders. However, they also found that there is a constraint between grating frequency and occluder height for perceiving grating continuation, and that the constraint is a common property for seeing the phantom illusion. When two objects overlap, the thicker one is perceived in front of the thinner one. This phenomenon is called Petter's effect. Kitaoka, Gyoba, Sakurai, ＆ Kawabata (in press) pointed out similarities between Petter's effect and the phantom illusion, which is visible when the spatial frequency is low or the occluder is thin.
As mentioned above, our phantom research provides a promising basis for building an integrative explanation of visual completion phenomena.

Research Products

• [Publications] Kawabata,H.,Gyoba,J.,Inoue,H.,& Ohtsubo,H: "Visual completion of partly occluded gratings in infants under 1 month of age"Vision Research. 39. 3586-3591 (1999)
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
• [Publications] Kitaoka,A.,Gyoba,J.,& Kawabata,H.: "Photopic visual phantom illusion : Its common and unique characteristics as a completion effect."Perception. 28. 825-834 (1999)
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
• [Publications] Brown,J.M.,Gyoba,J.,& May,J.G.: "Stationary phantoms and grating induction with oblique inducing gratings."Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. (in press). (2001)
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
• [Publications] Kawabata,H.,Gyoba,J.,Inoue,H.,& Ohtsubo,H.: "Connectivity perception of partly occluded gratings in 4-month-old infants"Perception. (in press). (2001)
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
• [Publications] Kitaoka,A.,Gyoba,J.,Sakurai,K.,& Kawabata,H.: "Similarity between Petter's effect and visual Phantoms."Perception. (in press). (2001)
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
• [Publications] Kitaoka,A.,Gyoba,J.,Kawabata,H.,and Sakurai,K.: "Two competitive mechanisms underlying neon color spreading, visual phantoms and grating induction."Vision Research. (in press). (2001)
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
• [Publications] Kawabata, H., Gyoba, J., Inoue, H., & Ohtstubo, H.: "Visual completion of partly occluded grating in infants under 1 month of age."Vision Research. 39. 3586-3591 (1999)
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
• [Publications] Kitaoka, A., Gyoba, J., & Kawabata, H.: "Photopic visual phantom illusion : Its common and unique characteristics as a completion effect."Perception. 28. 825-834 (1999)
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
• [Publications] Brown, J.M., Gyoba, J., & May, J.G.: "Stationary phantoms and grating induction with oblique inducing gratings : Implications for different mechanisms underlying the two phenomena."Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. (in press).
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
• [Publications] Kawabata, H., Gyoba, J., Inoue, H., & Ohtsubo, H.: "Connectivity perception of partly occluded gratings in 4-month-old infants."Perception. (in press).
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
• [Publications] Kitaoka, A., Gyoba, J., Kawabata, H., & Sakurai, K.: "Two competitive mechanisms underlying neon color spreading, visual phantoms and grating induction."Vision Research. (in press).
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
• [Publications] Kitaoka, A., Gyoba, J., Kawabata, H., & Sakurai, K.: "Perceptual continuation and depth in visual phantoms can be explained by the transparency effect."Perception. (in press).
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
• [Publications] Kitaoka, A., Gyoba, J., Sakurai, K., & Kawabata, H.: "Similarity between Petter's effect and visual phantoms."Perception. (in press).
  • Description: 「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
• [Publications] Kawabata,H.,Gyoba,J.,Inoue,H.,& Ohtsubo,H: "Visual completion of partly occluded gratings in infants under 1 month of age"Vision Research. 39. 3586-3591 (1999)
• [Publications] Kitaoka,A.,Gyoba,J.,& Kawabata,H.: "Photopic visual phantom illusion : Its common and unique characteristics as a completion effect."Perception. 28. 825-834 (1999)
• [Publications] Brown,J.M.,Gyoba,J.,% May,J.G.: "Stationary phantoms and grating induction with oblique inducing gratings."Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. (in press). (2001)
• [Publications] Kawabata,H.,Gyoba,J.,Inoue,H.,& Ohtsubo,H.: "Connectivity perception of partly occluded gratings in 4-month-old infants"Perception. (in press). (2001)
• [Publications] Kitaoka,A.,Gyoba,J.,Sakurai,K.,& Kawabata,H: "Similarity between Petter's effect and visual phantoms"Perception. (in press). (2001)
• [Publications] Kitaoka A.,Gyoba J.& Kawabata H.: "Photopic visual phantom illusion : Its common and unique characteristics as a completion effect"Perception. 28. 825-834 (1999)
• [Publications] Kawabata H.,Gyoba J.,Inoue H. & Ohtsubo H.: "Visual completion of partly occluded gratings in infants under l month of age"Vision Research. 39. 3586-3591 (1999)
• [Publications] Kawabata H.,Gyoba J.: "Visual completion in 4-month-old infants"Perception. 28Supplement. 119 (1999)
• [Publications] Gyoba J.& Kawabata H.: "Object unity perception in infants under 4 months of age"ATR Symposium on Face and Object Recognition. 47-48 (1999)
• [Publications] Sakurai K. & Miyakoshi R.: "Depth reversal of a random-dot hollow face on a motion-parallax display when its dot density is varied"Perception. 28 Supplement. 84 (1999)
• [Publications] Kitaoka A. & Ishihara M.: "Three elemental illusions defermines the Zoller illusion"Perception & Psychophysics. (印刷中).