Theory Of Perception Research Articles

Эволюционные, когнитивные и семиотические основания обучения в виртуальной реальности

The article addresses the classical epistemological debate on direct and indirect realism from educational perspectives relating to the studies of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Real­ity (AR). Recently, D. Hoffman introduced the Interface Theory of Perception stating that senses and thoughts mediate and represent reality similar to interface of computer represent­ing hidden process in a computer. Hoffman goes further and compares the nature of cogni­tion with production of virtual reality. Studies of VR partly confirmed such statements. For instance, due to an interaction of our mind with computer-generated objects (signs), move­ment and acceleration in VR during a virtual free fall from a parachute experienced as real. By using the Interface Theory of Perception and semiotic theory, the paper examines how the signs and interactions in VR scenarios can replace/construct studied realities and be used for learning. It is argued that VR allows building for learners ‘developmental niches’ to ex­perience and acquire new skills or conceptual knowledge. Overlays or signs augmented on these VR environments give ‘semiotic scaffolding’ for learners who re-construct studied social realities or receive instructions for the acquisition of professional skills. These results were investigated in three types of VR environments with different degrees of semiotic scaf­folding and evaluated by experts in cultural education. It is shown that VR provides learning environments similar to the real world and provided semiotic scaffolding reduced the cogni­tive loads in these developmental niches. VR environments for professional learning as well as for general education can benefit from using semiotic scaffoldings in virtual apprentice­ship and professional instruction. Augmented Reality could also scaffold and speed-up sci­entific discoveries through the effective integration of researchers into the ‘collective me­mory’ (global databases) and technically scaffolded processes of recognition.

P‐175: Quantitative Analysis of LCD Motion Ghosting Based on Visual Perception Model

In order to analyze the motion ghosting phenomenon on liqu id crystal displays (LCDs), a motion block artifact simulation model based on response time (RT) curves is established usin g human visual perception theory. By calculating the brightn ess integral, the presence and degree of the Rebound pheno menon are quantified. Furthermore, based on the quantified changes in RT curves at different frames, the mechanism of Rebound generation is analyzed and improvement measures a re proposed.

The Neural Corelates of Constructing Conceptual and Perceptual Representations of Autobiographical Memories.

Contemporary neurocognitive frameworks propose that conceptual and perceptual content of autobiographical memories-personal past experiences-are processed by dissociable neural systems. Other work has proposed a central role of the anterior hippocampus in initially constructing autobiographical memories, regardless of the content. Here, we report on an fMRI study that utilized a repeated retrieval paradigm to test these ideas. In an MRI scanner, participants retrieved autobiographical memories at three timepoints. During the third retrieval, participants either shifted their focus to the conceptual content of the memory, the perceptual content of the memory, or retrieved the memory as they had done so on previous trials. We observed stronger anterior hippocampal activity for the first retrieval compared with later retrievals, regardless of whether there was a shift in content in those later trials. We also found evidence for separate cortical systems when constructing autobiographical memories with a focus on conceptual or perceptual content. Finally, we found that there was common engagement between later retrievals that required a shift toward conceptual content and the initial retrieval of a memory. This final finding was explored further with a behavioral experiment that provided evidence that focusing on conceptual content of a memory guides memory construction, whereas perceptual content adds precision to a memory. Together, these findings suggest there are distinct content-oriented cortical systems that work with the anterior hippocampus to construct representations of autobiographical memories.

Potential Risks and Benefits Associated With the Genetic Modification of Crops for Improved Nutritional Content in South Africa

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine potential risks and benefits associated with the genetic modification of crops for improved nutritional content in South Africa Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: The study revealed that the genetic modification of crops addresses global challenges related to malnutrition, food insecurity, and public health. By enhancing the levels of essential nutrients such as iron, zinc, vitamin A, and folate in crops, genetically modified biofortified varieties have the potential to improve the nutritional status and well-being of populations, particularly in resource-constrained settings. Moreover, the adoption of GM biofortified crops has been shown to increase agricultural productivity, reduce production costs, and enhance economic returns for farmers, contributing to rural development and poverty alleviation. However, the potential risks associated with the genetic modification of crops cannot be overlooked. Concerns about food safety, environmental impact, and socio-economic equity necessitate careful consideration and proactive risk management strategies. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Risk Perception Theory & Social Construction of Technology may be used to anchor future studies on potential risks and benefits associated with the genetic modification of crops for improved nutritional content in South Africa. Engage stakeholders, including farmers, consumers, civil society organizations, and government agencies, in decision-making processes related to the development, regulation, and deployment of GM biofortified crops can foster transparency, trust, and inclusivity, leading to more socially acceptable and sustainable outcomes in practice. Develop science-based regulatory frameworks that balance the potential risks and benefits of GM biofortified crops, ensuring safety, environmental sustainability, and public health protection.

Brain representations of motion and position in the double-drift illusion.

In the 'double-drift' illusion, local motion within a window moving in the periphery of the visual field alters the window's perceived path. The illusion is strong even when the eyes track a target whose motion matches the window so that the stimulus remains stable on the retina. This implies that the illusion involves the integration of retinal signals with non-retinal eye-movement signals. To identify where in the brain this integration occurs, we measured BOLD fMRI responses in visual cortex while subjects experienced the double-drift illusion. We then used a combination of univariate and multivariate decoding analyses to identify (1) which brain areas were sensitive to the illusion and (2) whether these brain areas contained information about the illusory stimulus trajectory. We identified a number of cortical areas that responded more strongly during the illusion than a control condition that was matched for low-level stimulus properties. Only in area hMT+ was it possible to decode the illusory trajectory. We additionally performed a number of important controls that rule out possible low-level confounds. Concurrent eye tracking confirmed that subjects accurately tracked the moving target; we were unable to decode the illusion trajectory using eye position measurements recorded during fMRI scanning, ruling out explanations based on differences in oculomotor behavior. Our results provide evidence for a perceptual representation in human visual cortex that incorporates extraretinal information.

Compositionality in perception: A framework.

Perception involves the processing of content or information about the world. In what form is this content represented? I argue that perception is widely compositional. The perceptual system represents many stimulus features (including shape, orientation, and motion) in terms of combinations of other features (such as shape parts, slant and tilt, common and residual motion vectors). But compositionality can take a variety of forms. The ways in which perceptual representations compose are markedly different from the ways in which sentences or thoughts are thought to be composed. I suggest that the thesis that perception is compositional is not itself a concrete hypothesis with specific predictions; rather it affords a productive framework for developing and evaluating specific empirical hypotheses about the form and content of perceptual representations. The question is not just whether perception is compositional, but how. Answering this latter question can provide fundamental insights into perception. This article is categorized under: Philosophy > Representation Philosophy > Foundations of Cognitive Science Psychology > Perception and Psychophysics.

MEG Evidence That Modality-Independent Conceptual Representations Contain Semantic and Visual Features.

The semantic knowledge stored in our brains can be accessed from different stimulus modalities. For example, a picture of a cat and the word "cat" both engage similar conceptual representations. While existing research has found evidence for modality-independent representations, their content remains unknown. Modality-independent representations could be semantic, or they might also contain perceptual features. We developed a novel approach combining word/picture cross-condition decoding with neural network classifiers that learned latent modality-independent representations from MEG data (25 human participants, 15 females, 10 males). We then compared these representations to models representing semantic, sensory, and orthographic features. Results show that modality-independent representations correlate both with semantic and visual representations. There was no evidence that these results were due to picture-specific visual features or orthographic features automatically activated by the stimuli presented in the experiment. These findings support the notion that modality-independent concepts contain both perceptual and semantic representations.

Zooming through History: Active Perceptual Experience Mediated by Technology

This article examines the evolution of zooming and its impact on human perception, blending historical analysis with concepts from enaction and ecological psychology. The paper traces the advancement of magnifying tools from ancient lenses to modern optical instruments, highlighting their transformative role in extending human capabilities to perceive beyond natural limits. Central to this exploration are Zoomable User Interfaces (ZUIs), which exemplify the integration of perceptual theories into technological innovation. ZUIs are presented not just as tools but as interactive platforms that embody enactive and ecological principles, enabling users to engage dynamically with multi-scale digital environments. This approach challenges traditional views of perception, emphasizing an active, embodied experience that aligns with our cognitive abilities, opening up new perceptual agencies. The paper concludes by exploring future possibilities in virtual reality and multimodality, suggesting new directions for zoom technologies to enrich human perceptual experiences. This work offers a narrative that underscores the continuous human quest to enhance our understanding and interaction with the world, marking the expansion of human perception and interaction with our environment.

Understanding Human Cognition Through Computational Modeling.

One important goal of cognitive science is to understand the mind in terms of its representational and computational capacities, where computational modeling plays an essential role in providing theoretical explanations and predictions of human behavior and mental phenomena. In my research, I have been using computational modeling, together with behavioral experiments and cognitive neuroscience methods, to investigate the information processing mechanisms underlying learning and visual cognition in terms of perceptual representation and attention strategy. In perceptual representation, I have used neural network models to understand how the split architecture in the human visual system influences visual cognition, and to examine perceptual representation development as the results of expertise. In attention strategy, I have developed the Eye Movement analysis with Hidden Markov Models method for quantifying eye movement pattern and consistency using both spatial and temporal information, which has led to novel findings across disciplines not discoverable using traditional methods. By integrating it with deep neural networks (DNN), I have developed DNN+HMM to account for eye movement strategy learning in human visual cognition. The understanding of the human mind through computational modeling also facilitates research on artificial intelligence's (AI) comparability with human cognition, which can in turn help explainable AI systems infer humans' belief on AI's operations and provide human-centered explanations to enhance human-AI interaction and mutual understanding. Together, these demonstrate the essential role of computational modeling methods in providing theoretical accounts of the human mind as well as its interaction with its environment and AI systems.

On locational sensory individuals and spacetime

Perception not only registers property instances, but also connects with and attributes properties to individual entities—so‐called sensory individuals, or SIs. But what are SIs? The most‐discussed answers are: (i) SIs are ordinary material objects—cohesive, temporally persistent objects extended and bounded in space, and (ii) SIs are locations or regions in spacetime. I will argue for the object view of SIs on the grounds that its rival, the locational view, faces obstacles concerning the relationship between SIs and spacetime: it makes a mystery of perception's representation of SIs as occupying locations in and moving in ordinary spacetime.

New evidence for the sensorimotor mismatch theory of weight perception and the size-weight illusion

The size-weight illusion is a phenomenon where a smaller object is perceived heavier than an equally weighted larger object. The sensorimotor mismatch theory proposed that this illusion occurs because of a mismatch between efferent motor commands and afferent sensory feedback received when lifting large and small objects (i.e., the application of too little and too much lifting force, respectively). This explanation has been undermined by studies demonstrating a separation between the perceived weight of objects and the lifting forces that are applied on them. However, this research suffers from inconsistencies in the choice of lifting force measures reported. Therefore, we examined the contribution of sensorimotor mismatch in the perception of weight in the size-weight illusion and in non-size-weight illusion stimuli and evaluated the use of a lifting force aggregate measure comprising the four most common lifting force measures used in previous research. In doing so, the sensorimotor mismatch theory was mostly supported. In a size-weight illusion experiment, the lifting forces correlated with weight perception and, contrary to some earlier research, did not adapt over time. In a non-size-weight illusion experiment, switches between lifting light and heavy objects resulted in perceiving the weight of these objects differently compared to no switch trials, which mirrored differences in the manner participants applied forces on the objects. Additionally, we reveal that our force aggregate measure can allow for a more sensitive and objective examination of the effects of lifting forces on objects.

Stakeholder Perception's of Cybersecurity for Welfare Technology and Remote Care Devices.

In healthcare, there are various stakeholders who hold different understandings of technology. Cybersecurity risks may also be something these stakeholder have varying perceptions of. This papers explores how cybersecurity risks are understood by two key stakeholder groups in the Norwegian healthcare sector related to welfare technology and personal healthcare devices. Two stakeholder groups (healthcare workers and technology vendors) have been interviewed to gather data on this topic. Key findings highlight that there are differences in how risks are perceived, both in terms of likelihood and in consequence. We apply risk perception theory to analyze these findings and provide suggestions for further research within this topic.

Disjunctivism and the phenomenology of attention

J. Campbell`s disjunctivist theory of perception is based on an outdated model of attention, which maintains that the focus of attention is analogous to the beam of a spotlight. Meanwhile, some studies challenge this view and suggests that attentional selection can be object-based. The narrow target of this article consists in clarifying what is at stake between attention-first and consciousness-first strategies. The latter assumes that one could explain what attention is by specifying how some proper subset of the conscious field comes to be foregrounded. Campbell who adopts it faces a serious challenge in explicating the phenomenon of unconscious attention.

N-Lüders channels: a novel class of rebit channels, their properties and applications

In a very recent paper, the complete classification of rebit channels has been achieved. Here, we exploit that result to show how the classification can be used to perform an exhaustive analysis of a novel class of rebit channels induced by effects called n-Lüders channels. In the final part of the paper we propose a concrete application of these channels within the mathematical framework of a quantum theory of color perception that originated the interest about a rebit channels classification.

What do you learn from a single cue? Dimensional reweighting and cue reassociation from experience with a newly unreliable phonetic cue

In language comprehension, we use perceptual cues to infer meanings. Some of these cues reside on perceptual dimensions. For example, the difference between bear and pear is cued by a difference in voice onset time (VOT), which is a continuous perceptual dimension. The present paper asks whether, and when, experience with a single value on a dimension behaving unexpectedly is used by the learner to reweight the whole dimension. We show that learners reweight the whole VOT dimension when exposed to a single VOT value (e.g., 45 ms) and provided with feedback indicating that the speaker intended to produce a /b/ 50% of the time and a /p/ the other 50% of the time. Importantly, dimensional reweighting occurs only if 1) the 50/50 feedback is unexpected for the VOT value, and 2) there is another dimension that is predictive of feedback. When no predictive dimension is available, listeners reassociate the experienced VOT value with the more surprising outcome but do not downweight the entire VOT dimension. These results provide support for perceptual representations of speech sounds that combine cues and dimensions, for viewing perceptual learning in speech as a combination of error-driven cue reassociation and dimensional reweighting, and for considering dimensional reweighting to be reallocation of attention that occurs only when there is evidence that reallocating attention would improve prediction accuracy (Harmon, Z., Idemaru, K., & Kapatsinski, V. 2019. Learning mechanisms in cue reweighting. Cognition, 189, 76–88.).

Global Insights on Public Perceptions and Engagement based on TikTok politics

In the digital era, social media platforms like TikTok are increasingly used for political campaigns. This study examines the PAN party's use of the viral TikTok song "PAN 12" to engage students, using Davidoff’s public perception theory. Employing a qualitative descriptive method with six student informants from Sidoarjo, the research reveals mixed perceptions: some find the content engaging, while others criticize it for lacking substantive political content. The findings highlight that while TikTok can reach a wider audience and enable direct interaction with voters, it risks prioritizing popularity over political substance. Therefore, the PAN party should address criticisms with transparency and substantial communication to enhance understanding of their political goals. Highlights: TikTok engages a wider audience for political campaigns. "PAN 12" song evokes mixed reactions from students. Balance popularity with substantive communication to address criticisms. Keywords: Social Media, TikTok, Political Campaigns, Public Perception, Student Engagement

Scheler on the Concept of Productive Imagination in His Phenomenology and Metaphysics

Abstract The paper is a critical analysis of Max Scheler’s concept of productive phantasy as it functions in two ways that the author finds philosophically interesting. First, it examines critically Scheler’s attempt to overturn the basis for the claims of David Hume that there is no genuine productive phantasy, and that all phantasy is reproductive where it is at all legitimate. Scheler responds with a theory of perception through which he attempts to demonstrate that productive phantasy is an essential component of all perceptual acts. Second, it examines Scheler’s development of the theory of productive phantasy in his late efforts in metaphysics and aesthetics. Here he claims that productive phantasy functions in the Ground of Being in the process of world-creation, with humankind as its helpmate. The result is a genetic phenomenology exhibiting the ways in which the mind comes to constitute a coherent world. The author agrees with Scheler that productive phantasy is indeed essential for the constitution of the everyday world and for the works of art that illuminate that world, but contrary to Scheler, the author argues that Scheler’s claims about the function of the term are incoherent, and it therefore cannot serve as one of the foundations of his “possibly true” metaphysical system.

Emotional body representations: more pronounced effect of hands at a more explicit level of awareness.

To understand conditions such as body dysmorphic disorder, we need to understand healthy individuals' perceptual, conceptual, and emotional representations of their bodies. Not much is known about the differences in these representations across body districts, for example, hands, feet, and whole-body, despite their differences at sensory and functional levels. To understand this, we developed more implicit and explicit measures of body satisfaction for these body districts. Sixty-seven participants (age M = 30.66, SD = 11.19) completed a series of online Implicit Association Tests (IAT) and a Body Image Satisfaction Visual Analogue Scale (BISVAS; explicit) for each body district (hands/feet/whole body). The results show no differences in the more implicit level of awareness in hands, feet and whole body, while differences are apparent at a more explicit level of awareness, with higher scores for body image satisfaction for the hands than the whole body and marginally significant lower scores for feet than hands. Those findings suggest that visual attention, level of concern attributed to a body district, and disgust drivers are possible factors affecting the experience of attitudinal body image satisfaction.

Bodily Absence

As restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic shaped a new reality in March 2020, virtual exhibitions became a powerful tool for museums and galleries to continue their public role and an excellent platform for artists to communicate their work to audiences. This paper examines how the viewer’s physical absence could add a factor to the loss of aesthetics and the experience of two-dimensional artworks when digitally delivered. The viewer’s body is analysed through philosophical theories of perception through movement as a contributing factor in experiencing two-dimensional artworks. The paper examines space, movement, and distance, which connect perception to one’s body in designing and delivering the most common 2D and 3D-360° virtual exhibition presentations. The paper examines participants’ interaction with the artworks based on recent research about how audiences experience online exhibitions during the pandemic. It discusses how the role of the viewer–visitor may change to that of just a user.

The influence of rural tourism landscape perception on tourists’ revisit intentions—a case study in Nangou village, China

Rural tourism development has an important impact on optimizing the rural industrial structure and stimulating local economic growth. China’s Rural Revitalization Strategy has promoted the development of rural tourism nationwide and emphasized Chinese characteristics in the process of local development. Based on the theoretical analysis of landscape perception, this article uses the external Landscape Perception→Satisfaction→Revisit Intention influence path as a theoretical research framework to construct a structural equation model to analyze the willingness of tourists to revisit rural tourism destinations. We selected Nangou Village, Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province, as a key model village for rural revitalization, and conducted an empirical analysis. The empirical analysis results show that landscape perception has a significant positive impact on satisfaction and revisit intention. Tourist satisfaction has a significant positive impact on revisit intention and plays an intermediary role between landscape perception and revisit intention. The five dimensions of natural ecology, historical culture, leisure recreation, research experience, and integral route under landscape perception are all significantly positively correlated with revisit intention, with historical culture and integral route having the greatest impact on landscape perception. The survey about Nangou Village verifies the relationship between landscape perception, satisfaction, and tourists’ revisit intention. Based on the objective data analysis results, this study puts forward suggestions for optimizing Nangou Village’s tourism landscapes and improving tourists’ willingness to revisit from three aspects: deeply excavating rural historical and cultural resources, shaping the national red culture brand, and creating rural tourism boutique routes. It is hoped that the quantitative research method of landscape perception theory in Nangou Village can also provide a reference and inspiration for similar rural tourism planning.