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Hard-Wired and Plastic Mechanisms in 3-D Shape Perception

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Shape Perception in Human and Computer Vision

Part of the book series: Advances in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition ((ACVPR))

Abstract

Texture patterns on surfaces provide powerful cues to the three-dimensional shapes of objects. The perceived shapes, however, can be veridical or distorted depending on the texture pattern. By resolving retinal images of objects into orientation flows and frequency gradients, we can explain both types of percept. Specific patterns of orientation flows arise generically in retinal images of specific shapes and lead automatically to veridical percepts. This perceptual task is probably performed by hard-wired neural mechanisms, because it is affected by anisotropies in properties of early cortical cells, but not by conflicting haptic information. Frequency gradients in retinal images can arise from variations in distances or slants, but are perceived as if from distances even at the cost of ignoring pattern elements. However, the percepts can be corrected for surface slants with haptic feedback, indicating plastic mechanisms. Hardwired and plastic neural mechanisms thus play complementary roles in the perception of 3-D shapes from texture cues.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NEI grants EY07556 and EY 13312 to QZ.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SUNY College of Optometry, Graduate Center for Vision Research, State University of New York, 33 West 42nd St, New York, NY, 10036, USA

    Qasim Zaidi, Andrea Li, Carson Wong, Elias H. Cohen & Xin Meng

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  1. Qasim Zaidi
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  2. Andrea Li
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  3. Carson Wong
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  4. Elias H. Cohen
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  5. Xin Meng
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Correspondence to Qasim Zaidi .

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  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, King's College Road 6, Toronto, M5S 3G4, Ontario, Canada

    Sven J. Dickinson

  2. Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, Third Street 703, West Lafayette, 47907, Indiana, USA

    Zygmunt Pizlo

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Zaidi, Q., Li, A., Wong, C., Cohen, E.H., Meng, X. (2013). Hard-Wired and Plastic Mechanisms in 3-D Shape Perception. In: Dickinson, S., Pizlo, Z. (eds) Shape Perception in Human and Computer Vision. Advances in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5195-1_22

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