Learning about dynamic objects and recognizing static form

The effects of observed object motion on object perception are examined in two sets of studies. The first section of the thesis provides a thorough examination of various untested aspects of the basic "temporal association" hypothesis, which suggests that object motion provides a principled basis for linking distinct images together if they appear within small time intervals. Using familiar and unfamiliar objects undergoing various forms of non-rigid motion, I ask how well this simple hypothesis predicts behavior in change detection and categorization tasks. The results favor a modified version of the hypothesis which operates over a population of units, such that increases in generalization also produce increases in image sensitivity. The observed effects of long-term knowledge concerning object appearance and expected patterns of motion also force additional modifications of the initial hypothesis to incorporate interactions between learned predictions and recent experience. Specifically, the tendency to alter patterns of generalization following dynamic exposure appears to be contingent on the stability of the direction of movement through appearance space.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Balas, Benjamin J. (Benjamin John)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Pawan Sinha.

• Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39004

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39004