Liz Lawler and Minqi Wang

Speaker

Liz Lawler, Minqi Wang
VS Graduate Students

Date and Time

Monday, April 26, 2021
11:10 am - 12:30 pm

Location

Zoom

Liz Lawler's Abstract

The effect of expectation on perceptual selection varies with stimulus complexity

Perception relies on predictions about our environment, and these predictions are informed by prior experiences. I will discuss how various methods of creating a prediction affect perceptual selection of information from the visual environment. Next, I will present two studies that examine the effects of stimulus complexity and the method of inducing predictive context on perceptual selection. Specifically, I used statistical learning to teach observers arbitrary sequences of stimuli and then used binocular rivalry to measure the effects of expectation on perceptual selection. Finally, I’ll show that expectation induced from stimuli of different complexities result in uncorrelated effects on perceptual selection, implying independent processes for prediction based on complexity.

Minqi Wang's Abstract

Binocular Contrast Perception of Gratings, Noises, and Natural Images
Humans have two eyes, and their visual system is tasked with combining the two eyes’ views into a single percept of the world. An important dimension of this binocular percept is the amount and pattern of visual contrast. With the rise of stereoscopic displays, the ability to predict and optimize binocular contrast perception has become a topic of increasing interest. Previous psychophysical research has used simple stimuli, like sine wave gratings, to probe how each eye’s input contributes to the binocular percept. However, binocular contrast perception of natural images has not been studied. I will describe my work examining binocular contrast perception of stimuli ranging in complexity from gratings to natural images.