Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 1, 2025

A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator TAPS
Published on: June 3, 2009
Fractal Fluency: Processing of Fractal Stimuli Across Sight, Sound, and Touch
Richard P Taylor1, Catherine Viengkham2, Julian H Smith3
1Department of Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA. rpt@uoregon.edu.
Abstract:
People are continually exposed to the rich complexity generated by the repetition of fractal patterns at different size scales. Fractals are prevalent in natural scenery and also in patterns generated by artists and mathematicians. In this chapter, we will investigate the powerful significance of fractals for the human senses. In particular, we propose that fractals with mid-range complexity play a unique role in our visual experiences because the visual system has adapted to these prevalent natural patterns. This adaptation is evident at multiple stages of the visual system, ranging from data acquisition by the eye to processing of this data in the higher visual areas of the brain. Based on these results, we will discuss a fluency model in which the visual system processes mid-complexity fractals with relative ease. This fluency optimizes the observer's capabilities (such as enhanced attention and pattern recognition) and generates an aesthetic experience accompanied by a reduction in the observer's physiological stress levels. In addition to reviewing people's responses to viewing fractals, we will compare these responses to recent research focused on fractal sounds and fractal surface textures. We will extend our fractal fluency model to allow for stimuli across multiple senses.
Related Concept Videos
Parallel Processing
Sensory Perception: Organization of the Somatosensory System
The receptor level:
The receptor level is the first stage of sensation. It involves the detection of a stimulus by specialized sensory receptors. The stimulus must arrive within the receptor's receptive field. Next, the receptor converts the energy of the...
Synesthesia
Somatosensation
Gestalt Principles of Perception
Perception
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...

