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Priming of Simple and Complex Scene Layout: Rapid Function From the Intermediate Level

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Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
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Thomas Sanocki
Thomas Sanocki
Thomas Sanocki
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Noah Sulman
Noah Sulman
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Abstract

Three experiments examined the time course of layout priming with photographic scenes varying in complexity (number of objects). Primes were presented for varying durations (800-50 ms) before a target scene with 2 spatial probes; observers indicated whether the left or right probe was closer to viewpoint. Reaction time was the main measure. Scene primes provided maximum benefits with 200 ms or less prime duration, indicating that scene priming is rapid enough to influence everyday distance perception. The time course of prime processing was similar for simple and complex scene primes and for upright and inverted primes, suggesting that the prime representation was intermediate level in nature.
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Priming of Simple and Complex Scene Layout: Rapid Function From the
Intermediate Level
Thomas Sanocki and Noah Sulman
University of South Florida
Three experiments examined the time course of layout priming with photographic scenes varying in
complexity (number of objects). Primes were presented for varying durations (800–50 ms) before a target
scene with 2 spatial probes; observers indicated whether the left or right probe was closer to viewpoint.
Reaction time was the main measure. Scene primes provided maximum benefits with 200 ms or less
prime duration, indicating that scene priming is rapid enough to influence everyday distance perception.
The time course of prime processing was similar for simple and complex scene primes and for upright
and inverted primes, suggesting that the prime representation was intermediate level in nature.
Keywords: priming, layout, scene perception, intermediate-level processing, spatial processing
Human abilities such as navigation and scene identification are
amazingly good compared to artificial systems. Of particular in-
terest here is the representation and perception of spatial layout
within familiar scenes, as examined with a scene priming para-
digm. Our hypotheses begin with the assumption that observers
extract a representation of a scene’s layout over a brief learning
period (as short as a few trials with normal scenes; see Sanocki,
Michelet, Sellers, & Reynolds, 2006). This representation is as-
sumed to be activated by brief exposure to the scene (a scene
prime) and to facilitate distance perception when a similar target
scene follows the prime (Sanocki, 2003; Sanocki & Epstein, 1997;
Sanocki et al., 2006).
Speed of Processing and Scope of Processing
We view the benefits of scene primes as one facet of the
efficient use of spatial information from the environment (see, e.g.,
Cutting & Vishton, 1995; Domini, Caudek, & Tassinari, 2006;
Gibson, 1979; Ni, Braunstein, & Andersen, 2005; Sedgwick,
1986). Another facet of efficient information processing is speed.
In the literature on identification of scene categories, the speed of
identification is a provocative finding. In seminal experiments,
Potter (1975, 1976) found that observers can pick out a prespeci-
fied scene category (e.g., beach) with high accuracy from a stream
of different scenes, each presented for as little as 167 ms (see also,
e.g., Evans & Treisman, 2005; Michod & Intraub, 2007). Using
briefly presented low- and high-pass images, Oliva and Schyns
(1997; Schyns & Oliva, 1994) found that scene categorization is
facilitated by general layout information even when objects are
obscured. And, in binary categorization tasks (e.g., Is an animal
present?) with novel scenes on each trial, evidence of rapid cate-
gorization has been found (e.g., Rousselet, Fabre-Thorpe, &
Thorpe, 2002; Rousselet, Joubert, & Fabre-Thorpe, 2005). This
includes directional eye movement responses initiated in less than
120 ms from stimulus onset on many trials (Kirchner & Thorpe,
2006).
However, note that categorization requires only a single deci-
sion about each scene, limiting the scope of scene processing to
that decision. Yet, a typical scene contains a complex of informa-
tion distributed across space, including multiple spatial relations.
Is scene processing efficient across the spatial extent of a scene?
Here, we measured the speed of processing scene primes that
represented a typical view and contained either a few or many
spatial relations. We presented the scene primes for varying
amounts of time and used their effects to infer how much they
were processed. We asked the following question: How long must
the prime be presented for its benefits for target processing to
reach maximum levels?
Other seminal research in scene perception has demonstrated
effects of semantic constraints and physical-layout constraints
throughout much of the scenes (see, e.g., Biederman, 1972, 1981).
These experiments are consistent with the hypothesis of rapid
processing of an entire scene; however, the experiments were not
designed to provide precise information about the time course of
processing, including particular stages of processing.
Stages of Processing
Most theories of vision assume that processing proceeds through
several stages, from lower to high levels. In the present experi-
ments, we examined the stage or stages at which the prime-induced
scene representations operate. At one extreme, scene primes could
be processed to create high-level representations, such as a scene
category or a construction of attention (e.g., Logan, 1995; Rensink,
2000). However, such representations are limited in scope, to no
more than several arguments or entities; consequently, their use-
fulness for complex scene layouts would be limited. At the other
Thomas Sanocki and Noah Sulman, Department of Psychology, Uni-
versity of South Florida.
This research was supported by the University of South Florida Center
for Pattern Recognition. This research was motivated by comments by
Pierre Jolicœur and Ken Nakayama.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Thomas
Sanocki, Department of Psychology, PCD 4118, University of South
Florida, Tampa, FL 33624. E-mail: sanocki@usf.edu
Journal of Experimental Psychology: © 2009 American Psychological Association
Human Perception and Performance
2009, Vol. 35, No. 3, 735–749 0096-1523/09/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0013032
735
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
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... Trial timing was chosen to match previous spatial congruency bias paradigms (Golomb et al, 2014). The 500ms presentation time should enable sufficient time to process the depth cue and accumulate accurate information for depth perception from binocular disparity 1 (Adam et al., 1993;Sanocki & Sulman, 2009;Uttal, Davis, & Welke, 1994). Masks were included to ensure visual afterimages were not used to help with the same/different location task. ...
... For example, as noted earlier, stimulus timing may influence the results. Here we chose a single stimulus duration (500ms) that has been shown to reliably induce a 2D location bias (Finlayson & Golomb, 2016;Golomb et al., 2014;Shafer-Skelton et al., 2017), and should be sufficient to allow accumulation of disparity information (Adam et al., 1993;Sanocki & Sulman, 2009;Uttal et al., 1994). While this duration was clearly sufficient to evoke some depth effects in our study (RT priming), it remains possible that with longer stimulus durations, we might begin to see a congruency bias for depth as well. ...
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