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Randomness impacts the building of specific priors, visual exploration, and perception in object recognition
Cécile Gal1,2,3,4, Ioana Țincaș1, Vasile V Moca1,2
1Department of Experimental and Theoretical Neuroscience, Transylvanian Institute of Neuroscience, Str. Ploiești 33, 400157, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Scientific Reports
|April 12, 2024
Summary
Object recognition relies on visual sampling and prior knowledge. This study shows that random presentation impairs specific prior use, affecting how people explore objects.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Object recognition is crucial for adaptive behavior.
- The interplay between visual sampling and individual priors in object recognition is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how visual information sampling is influenced by the strength of an individual's priors during object recognition.
- To examine the relationship between prior knowledge and eye-movement patterns in a free-viewing task.
Main Methods:
- Recorded eye-movements of 18 adults during a free-viewing object-recognition task.
- Presented visual stimuli (Dots) in three orders: Descending (most to least visible), Ascending (least to most visible), and Random.
- Manipulated the strength of participants' priors based on stimulus visibility order.
Main Results:
- Stimulus visibility order significantly affected recognition performance and visual exploration patterns.
- Stronger priors generally led to sampling more informative visual locations.
- Participants in the Random group showed impaired use of specific object-related priors but retained general task-related priors.
Conclusions:
- Perception, including basic visual sampling, is influenced by complex cognitive processes like prior knowledge.
- The way visual information is sampled is not solely driven by stimulus properties but also by internal cognitive states.
- Understanding the role of priors is essential for a comprehensive theory of object recognition.
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