The recognition of partially visible natural objects in the presence and absence of their occluders
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

How to Create and Use Binocular Rivalry
Published on: November 10, 2010
Jeffrey S Johnson1, Bruno A Olshausen
1Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA. jsjohnson@ucdavis-alumni.com
Abstract:
The visual system is adept at compensating for the missing information in scenes that results from occlusion, but how this is done is not fully understood. In particular, the role of the occluding object in visual processing and its effect on the subsequent recognition of the occluded object is unclear. We report three human behavioral experiments suggesting that the recognition of partially visible objects is facilitated when the missing object information is replaced by an occluder rather than simply removed. Furthermore, we provide EEG evidence suggesting that the processes responsible for facilitated recognition occur relatively early in the visual stream.
Related Concept Videos
Perceptual Constancy
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Naturalistic Observations
Visual Agnosia
Prosopagnosia
