Global integration of local color differences in transparency perception: An fMRI study

The color appearance of curved transparent objects

Studies on colored transparent objects have elucidated potential mechanisms, but these studies have mainly focused on flat filters overlaying flat backgrounds. While they have provided valuable insight, these studies have not captured all aspects of transparency, like caustics, specular reflections/highlights, and shadows. Here, we investigate color-matching experiments with curved transparent objects for different matching stimuli: a uniform patch and a flat filter. Two instructions were tested: simply match the color of the glass object and the test element (patch and flat filter) or match the color of the dye that was used to tint the transparent object (patch). Observers’ matches differed from the mean, the most frequent, and the most saturated color of the transparent stimuli, whereas the brightest regions captured the chromaticity, but not the lightness, of patch matches. We applied four models from flat filter studies: the convergence model, the ratios of either the means (RMC) or standard deviations (RSD) of cone excitations, and a robust ratio model. The original convergence model does not fully generalize but does not perform poorly, and with modifications, we find that curved transparent objects cause a convergence of filtered colors toward a point in color space, similar to flat filters. Considering that, the RMC and robust ratio models generalized more than the RSD, with the RMC performing best across the stimuli we tested. We conclude that the RMC is probably the strongest factor for determining the color. The RSD seems instead to be related to the perceived “clarity” of glass objects.

Transformation from image-based to perceptual representation of materials along the human ventral visual pathway

Every object in the world has its own surface quality that is a reflection of the material from which the object is made. We can easily identify and categorize materials (wood, metal, fabric etc.) at a glance, and this ability enables us to decide how to interact appropriately with these objects. Little is known, however, about how materials are represented in the brain, or how that representation is related to material perception or the physical properties of material surface. By combining multivoxel pattern analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data with perceptual and image-based physical measures of material properties, we found that the way visual information about materials is coded gradually changes from an image-based representation in early visual areas to a perceptual representation in the ventral higher-order visual areas. We suggest that meaningful information about multimodal aspects of real-world materials reside in the ventral cortex around the fusiform gyrus, where it can be utilized for categorization of materials.

A Candidate for the Attentional Bottleneck: Set-size Specific Modulation of the Right TPJ during Attentive Enumeration

Several recent behavioral studies have shown that the enumeration of a small number of items (a process termed subitizing) depends on the availability of attentional resources and is not a preattentive process as previously thought. Here we studied the neural correlates of visual enumeration under different attentional loads in a dual-task paradigm using fMRI. Relatively intact subitizing under low attentional load compared to impaired subitizing under high attentional load was associated with an increase in BOLD signal in the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ). Crucially, attentionally modulated response in the rTPJ was specific to small set sizes (up to 3 items) and did not occur at larger set sizes (5–7 items). This result has two implications: (1) Subitizing involves part of the fronto-parietal network for stimulus-driven attention providing neural evidence against preattentive subitizing. (2) Activity in rTPJ is set-size modulated. Together with similar evidence from studies probing visual short-term memory, this result suggests that rTPJ modulation might reflect the brain's ability to attentively handle small set sizes. Thus, the rTPJ may play an important role for the emergence of a capacity limit in both enumeration and visual short-term memory.

The influence of colour and sound on neuronal activation during visual object naming

This paper investigates how neuronal activation for naming photographs of objects is influenced by the addition of appropriate colour or sound. Behaviourally, both colour and sound are known to facilitate object recognition from visual form. However, previous functional imaging studies have shown inconsistent effects. For example, the addition of appropriate colour has been shown to reduce antero-medial temporal activation whereas the addition of sound has been shown to increase posterior superior temporal activation. Here we compared the effect of adding colour or sound cues in the same experiment. We found that the addition of either the appropriate colour or sound increased activation for naming photographs of objects in bilateral occipital regions and the right anterior fusiform. Moreover, the addition of colour reduced left antero-medial temporal activation but this effect was not observed for the addition of object sound. We propose that activation in bilateral occipital and right fusiform areas precedes the integration of visual form with either its colour or associated sound. In contrast, left antero-medial temporal activation is reduced because object recognition is facilitated after colour and form have been integrated.

Effects of motion and configural complexity on color transparency perception

We tested whether motion and configural complexity affect perceived transparency. A series of five coherent chromatic transformations in color space was applied across a figure: translation, convergence, shear, divergence and rotation. The stimuli consisted of a bipartite or a checkerboard configuration (10 x 10 degrees), with a central static or moving overlay (5 x 5 degrees). Three different luminance conditions (the plane of chromatic transformation oriented toward higher, lower, or equal luminances) were also tested for each of three modulation depths. For each stimulus, the observer judged whether the overlay appeared transparent or not. The main results indicated an interaction between the type of chromatic transformation and stimulus motion and complexity. For example, convergences are judged to appear transparent significantly more often when motion is added for bipartite configurations, or when they are generated in a checkerboard configuration. Surprisingly, shears that have been reported to appear opaque, are more frequently reported to appear transparent with short vector lengths and when combined with motion. Other transformations are also affected by motion, although the effectiveness of figural complexity on transparency seems to depend on both the type of color shifts and the presence of motion. The results indicate that adding motion and stimulus complexity are not necessarily neutral with respect to the chromatic shifts evoking transparency. Thus, studies that have used motion to enhance transparency may yield different results about the color shifts supporting transparency perception from those that did not. The same might be supposed for stimulus complexity under some conditions.