目标和干扰子之间的拓扑性质差异可以削弱拥挤效应(英文)

Reduction of The Crowding Effect by Topological Difference Between Target and Flankers

'拥挤效应'被认为是外周视觉物体辨认过程中的一个重要瓶颈.它是指当目标被干扰子包围,在外周视野呈现时,观察者辨认目标的能力被大大削弱,尤其是当目标和干扰子之间存在某种相似性时.许多研究分别试图在不同层次上提出解释这一现象的机制.本文通过三个实验,使用了不同的视觉刺激图形的辨认任务(例如,三角形和箭头的朝向判断、数字和字母的辨认以及S形图形的朝向辨认),测量了目标和干扰子之间中心距离的阈值,结果一致地发现,当目标和干扰子之间存在拓扑性质差异(洞的个数差异)时,拥挤效应会显著降低,并且排除了目标和干扰子之间的主观相似性、形状和面积差异等可能的因素.从知觉组织的角度验证了当目标和干扰子之间存在拓扑性质差异时,拥挤效应会显著降低,这是首次发现的一个影响拥挤效应的新的维度.本文结果不仅为拥挤效应的机制提供了一个新的解释,也为大范围首先拓扑知觉在知觉物体形成中的作用提供了支持性证据.

The crowding effect refers to the fact that observers＇ ability to recognize an object in the periphery deteriorates when the target object is flanked by other items, especially if the target and flankers are similar. Here, a reduction of the crowding effect was caused by a topological difference between target and flankers. In three experiments using a number of different stimulus patterns （e.g., triangles and arrows; digits and letters and geometrical shapes）, results showed that the crowding effect was significantly reduced when the target and the flankers were topologically different. Control experiments showed that such a reduction of the crowding effect was not due to differences in subjective similarity, or differences in geometrical features such as area and shape. This finding suggests that topological properties play an important role in perceptual grouping which influences the crowding effect.