Detection of convexity and concavity in context

Sensitivity to shape changes was measured, in particular detection of convexity and concavity changes. The available data are contradictory. The author used a change detection task and simple polygons to systematically manipulate convexity/concavity. Performance was high for detecting a change of sign (a new concave vertex along a convex contour or a new convex vertex along a concave contour). Other things being equal, there was no evidence of an advantage for detecting a new concavity compared with a new convexity, for detecting a change of angle to a concave vertex compared with a convex vertex, for detecting a change within a concave region compared with a change within a convex region, or for an interaction between convexity and concavity and changes affecting or not affecting a vertex. The author concludes that change detection is affected by changes of sign of curvature (leading to changes in part structure). However, contrary to previous proposals, there is no special role for negative curvature or minima of curvature in guiding attention.