Come Together, Right Now: Dynamic Overwriting of an Object's History through Common Fate.

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Title:	Come Together, Right Now: Dynamic Overwriting of an Object's History through Common Fate.
Authors:	Luria, Roy¹ royluria@post.tau.ac.il, Vogel, Edward K.²
Source:	Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2014, Vol. 26 Issue 8, p1819-1828. 10p.
Subjects:	Object monitors (Computer software), Sense organs, Gestalt psychology, Color change sensors, Evoked potentials (Electrophysiology), Theory of self-knowledge, Short-term memory
Abstract:	The objects around us constantly move and interact, and the perceptual system needs to monitor on-line these interactions and to update the object's status accordingly. Gestalt grouping principles, such as proximity and common fate, play a fundamental role in how we perceive and group these objects. Here, we investigated situations in which the initial object representation as a separate item was updated by a subsequent Gestalt grouping cue (i.e., proximity or common fate). We used a version of the color change detection paradigm, in which the objects started to move separately, then met and stayed stationary, or moved separately, met, and then continued to move together. We monitored the object representations on-line using the contralateral delay activity (CDA; an ERP component indicative of the number of maintained objects), during their movement, and after the objects disappeared and became working memory representations. The results demonstrated that the objects' representations (as indicated by the CDA amplitude) persisted as being separate, even after a Gestalt proximity cue (when the objects "met" and remained stationary on the same position). Only a strong common fate Gestalt cue (when the objects not just met but also moved together) was able to override the objects' initial separate status, creating an integrated representation. These results challenge the view that Gestalt principles cause reflexive grouping. Instead, the object initial representation plays an important role that can override even powerful grouping cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
	Copyright of Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience is the property of MIT Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database:	Engineering Source

Description
Abstract:	The objects around us constantly move and interact, and the perceptual system needs to monitor on-line these interactions and to update the object's status accordingly. Gestalt grouping principles, such as proximity and common fate, play a fundamental role in how we perceive and group these objects. Here, we investigated situations in which the initial object representation as a separate item was updated by a subsequent Gestalt grouping cue (i.e., proximity or common fate). We used a version of the color change detection paradigm, in which the objects started to move separately, then met and stayed stationary, or moved separately, met, and then continued to move together. We monitored the object representations on-line using the contralateral delay activity (CDA; an ERP component indicative of the number of maintained objects), during their movement, and after the objects disappeared and became working memory representations. The results demonstrated that the objects' representations (as indicated by the CDA amplitude) persisted as being separate, even after a Gestalt proximity cue (when the objects "met" and remained stationary on the same position). Only a strong common fate Gestalt cue (when the objects not just met but also moved together) was able to override the objects' initial separate status, creating an integrated representation. These results challenge the view that Gestalt principles cause reflexive grouping. Instead, the object initial representation plays an important role that can override even powerful grouping cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	0898929X
DOI:	10.1162/jocn_a_00584