Object recognition under sequential viewing conditions: evidence for viewpoint-specific recognition procedures

• Published in: Perception (London) Vol. 23; no. 5; p. 595
• Main Authors: Lawson, R, Humphreys, G W, Watson, D G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.01.1994
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Attention; Discrimination Learning; Female; Humans; Male; Mental Recall; Orientation; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Perceptual Masking; Problem Solving; Psychophysics; Reaction Time
• ISSN: 0301-0066
• DOI: 10.1068/p230595

In many computational approaches to vision it has been emphasised that object recognition involves the encoding of view-independent descriptions prior to matching to a stored object model, thus enabling objects to be identified across different retinal projections. In contrast, neurophysiological studies suggest that image descriptions are matched to less abstract, view-specific representations, resulting in more efficient access to stored object knowledge for objects presented from a view similar to a stored viewpoint. Evidence favouring a primary role for view-specific object descriptions in object recognition is reported. In a series of experiments employing line drawings of familiar objects, the effects of depth rotation upon the efficiency of object recognition were investigated. Subjects were required to identify an object from a sequence of very briefly presented pictures. The results suggested that object recognition is based upon the matching of image descriptions to view-specific stored representations, and that priming effects under sequential viewing conditions are strongly influenced by the visual similarity of different views of objects.