The cultural origins of human cognition

Many current neurophysiological, psychophysical, and psychological approaches to vision rest on the idea that when we see, the brain produces an internal representation of the world. The activation of this internal representation is assumed to give rise to the experience of seeing. The problem with this kind of approach is that it leaves unexplained how the existence of such a detailed internal representation might produce visual consciousness. An alternative proposal is made here. We propose that seeing is a way of acting. It is a particular way of exploring the environment. Activity in internal representations does not generate the experience of seeing. The outside world serves as its own, external, representation. The experience of seeing occurs when the organism masters what we call the governing laws of sensorimotor contingency. The advantage of this approach is that it provides a natural and principled way of accounting for visual consciousness, and for the differences in the perceived quality of sensory experience in the different sensory modalities. Several lines of empirical evidence are brought forward in support of the theory, in particular: evidence from experiments in sensorimotor adaptation, visual \"filling in,\" visual stability despite eye movements, change blindness, sensory substitution, and color perception.

A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness-Authors' Response-Acting out our sensory experience

Let's read! We will often find out this sentence everywhere. When still being a kid, mom used to order us to always read, so did the teacher. Some books are fully read in a week and we need the obligation to support reading. What about now? Do you still love reading? Is reading only for you who have obligation? Absolutely not! We here offer you a new book enPDFd the perception of the visual world to read.

The Perception of the Visual World. By James J. Gibson. U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950 (George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London). Price 35s.

人教版高中英语新课程教材中,语言运用（Using Language）是每个单元必不可少的部分,提供了围绕单元中心话题的听、说、读、写的综合性练习,是单元中心话题的延续和升华.如何设计Using Language部分的教学,使自己的教学模式既不落俗套,又能真正体现新课程标准所倡导的教学理念,正是广大一线英语教师一直努力探索的问题.

打磨Using Language,倡导新理念

コンピュータ・サイエンス : ACM computing surveys

Over the last 20 years research has been done on the question of how egocentric distances, i.e., the subjectively reported distance from a human observer to an object, are perceived in virtual environments. This review surveys the existing literature on empirical user studies on this topic. In summary, there is a mean estimation of egocentric distances in virtual environments of about 74p of the modeled distances. Many factors possibly influencing distance estimates were reported in the literature. We arranged these factors into four groups, namely measurement methods, technical factors, compositional factors, and human factors. The research on these factors is summarized, conclusions are drawn, and promising areas for future research are outlined.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2543581.2543590

The perception of egocentric distances in virtual environments - A review

Is there any relationship between visual fixation durations and saccade amplitudes in free exploration of pictures and scenes? In four experiments with naturalistic stimuli, we compared eye movements during early and late phases of scene perception. Influences of repeated presentation of similar stimuli (Experiment 1), object density (Experiment 2), emotional stimuli (Experiment 3) and mood induction (Experiment 4) were examined. The results demonstrate a systematic increase in the durations of fixations and a decrease for saccadic amplitudes over the time course of scene perception. This relationship was very stable across the variety of studied conditions. It can be interpreted in terms of a shifting balance of the two modes of visual information processing.

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Visual Fixation Durations and Saccade Amplitudes: Shifting Relationship in a Variety of Conditions

Two Visual Systems and their Eye Movements: Evidence from Static and Dynamic Scene Perception Boris M. Velichkovsky, Markus Joos, Jens R. Helmert, and Sebastian Pannasch (velich {joosy helmert pannasch}@psychomail.tu-dresden.de) Dresden University of Technology Applied Cognitive Research/ Psychology III Mommsenstrasse 13 Dresden, D-01062 Germany Abstract The existence of two distinct visual pathways in the primate brain is a persistent theme for evolutionary, neurophysio- logical, motor control and neuropsychological research. As one of the most widely cited results in cognitive neuroscience, this distinction has survived decades of critical analysis under different guises (e.g. ambient vs. focal or visuomotor vs. cognitive). However, the interplay between these two processing streams in the solution of everyday tasks remains to be an unresolved issue. In particular, how do they guide eye movements, their most immediate output? Results from our recent study on hazard perception in a simulated driving environment demonstrated that specific combinations of eye movement parameters are indicative to an involvement of either of the two systems. In a further experiment, we tried to validate these parameters by testing assumptions about memory representations related to these two modes. After a short presentation of various real world scenes, subjects had to recognize cut-outs from them, which were selected according to their fixation parameters. Random cut-outs from not seen pictures (catch trials) were also presented. The results confirmed our hypothesis: cut-outs corresponding to presumably focal mode of processing were better recognized than cut-outs similarly fixated in the course of ambient exploration. Keywords: Active Vision; Dorsal and Ventral Streams; Ambient and Focal Attention; Scene Perception; Recognition; Eye Movements. Introduction In contemporary studies of visual cognition, one can discover several clusters of research that are only loosely connected to each other (for similar arguments, see Simons & Rensink, 2005). An intensive albeit still controversial discussion is, for instance, how and even whether visual information is retained across saccades while viewing a scene (Bridgeman, Van der Heijden, and Velichkovsky, Irwin's object file theory of transsaccadic memory emphasises the crucial role of visual attention in what local visual information from a scene is or is not represented (Irwin, 1992). Attending an object in a visual scene allows binding its features into a unified object description (Treisman, 1988). This object description is linked to a spatial position in a master map of locations, forming a temporary representation in visual short-term memory ( VSTM ). According to Irwin (1992) three to four discrete objects can be hold at a time in VSTM . Finally, object files are the primary content of transsaccadic memory providing local continuity from one fixation to the next. More recently, coherence theory (Rensink, 2000a, 2000b) proposed a similar explanation of the fact that despite the 'snapshot-like' character of visual information acquisition the world around us is experienced as being stable, coherent and richly detailed. Just as in object file theory visual attention is the premise to bind sensory features into a coherent object representation, which can be hold in VSTM preventing them from disruptions like saccades. Prior to focused attention, proto-objects with only limited temporary and spatial coherence are formed in parallel across the visual field but being volatile and replaced on appearance of a new stimulus at their position. On withdrawal of attention a coherent object resolves into its constituent proto-objects again leaving no or only little after-effect of attention (Rensink, 2000a). Both these visual transience hypotheses (Hollingworth & Henderson, 2002) rely on the idea, that a complete metric representation of a visual scene is neither possible nor necessary. O'Regan and Noe (2001) go even further saying (actually paraphrasing Brooks, 1991, p. 139) “the world serves as its own memory”. One drawback of these approaches to scene perception is, however, that they consider eye movements as mechanical events of no further interest. The classification is simply based on measuring whether the subject is holding their eyes stable at a designated position (fixation) or is doing a jerky eye movement (saccade). Presentation or extinction of visual stimuli (e.g. a scene or an object) is in the majority of cases executed in relation to the start or end of a saccade. The underlying processing, which may be reflected in the variation of fixation durations, is neglected. There is another line of research analyzing the duration of visual fixations in terms of task complexity, levels of processing or skills, especially for reading tasks (Velichkovsky, 1999). In a recent study by Unema, Pannasch, Joos, and Velichkovsky (2005) subjects viewed computer generated images of rooms containing different interior, in order to be able to answer questions about the distribution of objects within the room or about the presence/absence of particular objects. The authors found a clear shift of the ratio of fixation durations and saccadic amplitudes across the tasks and also over the viewing time. At the beginning of image inspection fixations with shorter durations and saccades with longer amplitudes were

/pdf/two-visual-systems-and-their-eye-movements-evidence-from-27vryyq0v2.pdf

Two Visual Systems and Their Eye Movements: Evidence from Static and Dynamic Scene Perception

Social neuroscience has shed light on the underpinnings of understanding other minds. The current study investigated the effect of self-involvement during social interaction on attention, arousal, and facial expression. Specifically, we sought to disentangle the effect of being personally addressed from the effect of decoding the meaning of another person's facial expression. To this end, eye movements, pupil size, and facial electromyographic (EMG) activity were recorded while participants observed virtual characters gazing at them or looking at someone else. In dynamic animations, the virtual characters then displayed either socially relevant facial expressions (similar to those used in everyday life situations to establish interpersonal contact) or arbitrary facial movements. The results show that attention allocation, as assessed by eye-tracking measurements, was specifically related to self-involvement regardless of the social meaning being conveyed. Arousal, as measured by pupil size, was p...

The effects of self-involvement on attention, arousal, and facial expression during social interaction with virtual others: a psychophysiological study.

INTRODUCTION For research and applications in the field of (neuro)ergonomics, it is of increasing importance to have reliable methods for measuring mental workload. In the present study we examined the hypothesis that saccadic eye movements can be used for an online assessment of mental workload. METHODS Saccadic main sequence (amplitude, duration and peak velocity) was used as a diagnostic measure of mental workload in a virtual driving task with three complexity levels. We tested 18 drivers in the SIRCA driving simulator while their eye movements were recorded. The Wickens' multiple resources model was used as theoretical framework. Changes in mental workload between the complexity levels were evaluated multidimensionally, using subjective rating, performance in a secondary task, and other behavioral indices. RESULTS Saccadic peak velocity decreased (7.2 visual degrees/s) as the mental workload increased, as measured by scores of mental workload test (15.2 scores) and the increase of the reaction time on the secondary task (46 ms). DISCUSSION Saccadic peak velocity is affected by variations in mental workload during ecologically valid tasks. We conclude that saccadic peak velocity could be a useful diagnostic index for the assessment of operators' mental workload and attentional state in hazardous environments.

Jens R. Helmert

Papers

The perception of egocentric distances in virtual environments - A review

Visual Fixation Durations and Saccade Amplitudes: Shifting Relationship in a Variety of Conditions

Two Visual Systems and Their Eye Movements: Evidence from Static and Dynamic Scene Perception

The effects of self-involvement on attention, arousal, and facial expression during social interaction with virtual others: a psychophysiological study.

Saccadic peak velocity sensitivity to variations in mental workload.