The mean-integral representation of rectangles.

Abstract

To assess perceptual interaction between the height and width of rectangles, we used an accuracy variant of the Garner paradigm. We measured the discriminability of height and width (baseline tasks) and size and shape (correlated tasks). From the d' values in these conditions, we estimated perceptual distances and inferred a mean-integral representation in which height and width corresponded to non-independent dimensions in a perceptual space. This model accounted well for performance in these two-stimulus conditions, and it also explained 70%-80% of the decline in performance in selective and divided attention. In a second experiment, conducted for purposes of comparison with the rectangle discrimination Experiment, we studied the discrimination of horizontal and vertical line segments connected in an L-shape. In size discrimination, observers were equally good with line pairs and rectangles, suggesting holistic perception; but in shape discrimination, they appeared to combine information from the two line-pair components of the rectangle independently. The mean-integral model was again successful in relating performance in the Garner tasks quantitatively.