Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...

Vision

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognize that objects remain consistent and unchanged even when their appearance varies due to changes in sensory input. There are four main types of perceptual constancy: size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy, and brightness 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...

Visual System

Visual System

Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

Color Vision

Color Vision

Color perception begins in the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye. Two main theories explain how colors are seen: the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory. The trichromatic theory, proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and extended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, suggests that color vision is based on three types of cone receptors in the retina. These cones are sensitive to different but overlapping ranges of wavelengths corresponding to red, blue, and green.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Design guidelines for animated data visualization based on perceptual capacity limits.

Cognitive research: principles and implications·2026

Same author

Neurocognitive correlates of spatial thinking mediate the relation between socioeconomic status and STEM achievement.

Scientific reports·2025

Same author

Assessing children's spatial thinking: Insights, challenges, and implications.

Advances in child development and behavior·2025

Same author

Reading a graph is like reading a paragraph.

Journal of experimental psychology. General·2024

Same author

Same Data, Diverging Perspectives: The Power of Visualizations to Elicit Competing Interpretations.

IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics·2024

Same author

Language systematizes attention: How relational language enhances relational representation by guiding attention.

Cognition·2023

Same journal

Invaders taking over-Mollusc faunal change in volcanic barrier lakes of the Albertine Rift biodiversity hotspot.

PloS one·2026

Same journal

AI-driven molecular diversification and ligand-based optimization of macitentan derivatives targeting VEGFR1 and endothelin signaling pathways.

PloS one·2026

Same journal

Performance patterns and records in the world aquatics masters championships: Where do the most frequently represented nations among the top-ten masters swimmers come from?

PloS one·2026

Same journal

Modeling diurnal Temperature-Rainfall relationships under multicollinearity using PLS-SEM: A case study of Ghana.

PloS one·2026

Same journal

Organizational culture, social capital, and emergency capacity in primary healthcare institutions: A cross-sectional structural equation modeling study comparing ordinary and older communities.

PloS one·2026

Same journal

Impact of kidney function on the metabolome in the general population.

PloS one·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Are Categorical Spatial Relations Encoded by Shifting Visual Attention between Objects?

Lei Yuan¹, David Uttal¹, Steven Franconeri¹

¹Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America.

|October 4, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Understanding spatial relations like "above" or "below" involves shifting visual attention. This study confirms that attention shifts enhance the memory of spatial relationships between objects, supporting a new cognitive mechanism.

More Related Videos

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

Published on: November 30, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Defining the Role Of Language in Infants' Object Categorization with Eye-tracking Paradigms

Published on: February 8, 2019

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

Published on: November 30, 2018

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Visual Perception

Background:

Human cognition relies on understanding not only individual values but also the relationships between them.
Processing categorical spatial relations (e.g., 'above', 'below') is crucial for cognition.
The 'shift account of relation processing' proposes that spatial relations are extracted via shifts in visual attention.

Purpose of the Study:

To test the 'shift account of relation processing' for categorical spatial relations.
To investigate whether shifts of attention improve the representation of spatial relations compared to identity memory.
To elucidate the cognitive mechanisms underlying spatial relation processing.

Main Methods:

Participants viewed briefly flashed object pairs.
Eye tracking was used to monitor voluntary shifts of attention.
Memory recall was tested for either the spatial relation or the identity of objects.

Main Results:

When initial fixation was not on either object, relational memory showed a significant advantage for the object following an attention shift.
Identity memory showed no advantage for either object in the non-fixated condition.
When initial fixation was on an object, identity memory benefited the fixated object, while relational memory showed a relative benefit for objects following an attention shift.

Conclusions:

The findings support the 'shift account of relation processing' as a mechanistic explanation for spatial relation memory.
Attention shifts play a key role in enhancing the representation of spatial relationships.
This attention-based mechanism may underlie both linguistic and perceptual representations of spatial relations.