Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments
Published on: March 18, 2019
Confounds in pictorial sets: the role of complexity and familiarity in basic-level picture processing
Alex Forsythe1, Gerry Mulhern, Martin Sawey
1School of Psychology, John Moores University, Liverpool, England. a.m.forsythe@ljmu.ac.uk
Abstract:
Complexity is conventionally defined as the level of detail or intricacy contained within a picture. The study of complexity has received relatively little attention-in part, because of the absence of an acceptable metric. Traditionally, normative ratings of complexity have been based on human judgments. However, this study demonstrates that published norms for visual complexity are biased. Familiarity and learning influence the subjective complexity scores for nonsense shapes, with a significant training x familiarity interaction [F(1,52) = 17.53, p < .05]. Several image-processing techniques were explored as alternative measures of picture and image complexity. A perimeter detection measure correlates strongly with human judgments of the complexity of line drawings of real-world objects and nonsense shapes and captures some of the processes important in judgments of subjective complexity, while removing the bias due to familiarity effects.
Related Concept Videos
Gestalt Principles of Perception
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...
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Parallel Processing
Factors Affecting Perception
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
Visual System
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

