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Updated: Jul 3, 2026
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Creating Objects and Object Categories for Studying Perception and Perceptual Learning
Published on: November 2, 2012
Using morphs of familiar objects to examine how shape discriminability influences view sensitivity
Rebecca Lawson1, Heinrich H Bülthoff
1School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England. rlawson@liverpool.ac.uk
Perception & Psychophysics
|July 11, 2008
Summary
Object recognition is view-sensitive, especially for familiar objects. Shape discrimination difficulty critically impacts how sensitive object recognition is to changes in viewpoint.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
- Object Recognition
Background:
- Object constancy allows recognition across different views.
- Previous research explored view sensitivity with novel objects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how shape change difficulty affects object constancy.
- To examine object identification and categorization across depth rotations.
Main Methods:
- Three matching experiments using morphs of familiar objects (e.g., bath-sink).
- Participants performed identification and categorization tasks with varying view and shape changes.
Main Results:
- Both view and shape changes significantly impacted performance.
- View change effects were most pronounced when shape discrimination was most difficult.
- Findings align with previous studies on novel object morphs.
Conclusions:
- Object recognition for familiar items remains view-sensitive at the basic identification level.
- Shape discrimination difficulty is a key factor influencing view sensitivity in object recognition.
