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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 12, 2026

Generating Strictly Controlled Stimuli for Figure Recognition Experiments

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Published on: March 18, 2019

Shape beyond recognition: form-derived directionality and its effects on visual attention and motion perception.

Heida M Sigurdardottir¹, Suzanne M Michalak¹, David L Sheinberg¹

¹Department of Neuroscience.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. General

|April 10, 2013

Summary

Object shape intrinsically guides attention and motion perception. This visual processing automatically uses shape cues to predict future locations, enhancing environmental sampling and object tracking.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive psychology
Neuroscience
Visual perception

Background:

Object movement is constrained by its shape.
Environmental sampling relies on predicting future object locations.
Visual systems likely integrate shape information for navigation and tracking.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if novel object shapes possess intrinsic directionality.
To determine if this perceived directionality influences human attention and motion detection.
To explore the role of shape in spatial orienting and visual processing.

Main Methods:

Participants assessed the perceived directionality of novel objects.
Independent groups evaluated attention and motion sense biases.
Experimental design focused on automatic processing of shape-derived directional cues.

Main Results:

Nearly all novel objects exhibited intrinsic directionality based on shape.
This shape-derived directionality automatically biased visual attention and motion detection.
Both overt and covert visual orienting were influenced by object shape.

Conclusions:

Object shape provides an intrinsic directional signal.
Shape processing is fundamental to spatial awareness and predictive visual functions.
This connection between form and space highlights shape's role beyond mere recognition in the visual brain.