Corner angles in visual physiology and perception
What types of visual features are most salient to the brain? How do visual neurons combine stimulus features, such as edges and corners, into whole objects? To answer these questions, we have presented various kinds of visual stimuli while monitoring the activity in visual neurons. We have found that corners generate more salient perception and more powerful neural responses than edges. This discovery has great potential consequences for our understanding of visual functional anatomy. With studies such as these, our lab is helping to determine the basic building blocks of vision–from simple to more complex stimuli– that construct our perception of brightness and shape. This work promises to help develop ophthalmic techniques to overcome deficits in low vision, by improving the salience of stimuli. (See demo).
(see full list of publications)
Spatial Vision; 22, 211–224. Corner salience varies parametrically with corner angle during flicker-augmented contrast: further predictions on corner perception from Vasarely’s artworksSpecial Issue on Vision Science and Art
Encyclopedia of Perception, Ed. E. Bruce Goldstein, Sage Press,318-320. Contrast enhancement at borders
Perception; 36, 808-820.
BOLD activation varies parametrically with corner angle throughout human retinotopic cortex
