Symmetry detection and visual attention: a "binary-map" hypothesis

Recent research suggests that human symmetry-detection mechanisms cannot simultaneously compare different colors across the axis of symmetry (Nature 399 (1999) 115). In the present study, observers were required to judge symmetry in arrays composed of elements varying not only in color, but also in size, spatial frequency and orientation. In every case, response times increased with the number of different levels of a given feature. It is proposed that this increase reflects a sequential strategy whereby coarse "binary maps" are created by attentional filtering, and the symmetry of each map is then checked. Experiment 2 required observers to detect "pseudo-symmetry" (symmetry in feature values defined relative to an arbitrary featural boundary); the ease with which this task was accomplished supported the binary map hypothesis. The results suggest that (1) symmetry detection is spatially imprecise, and (2) attentional gating can operate prior to symmetry detection in the visual pathway.