The Veiled Virgin illustrates visual segmentation of shape by cause
The geometry of the physical object does not represent the visual experience. Three-dimensional (3D) shape perception is one of the most important functions of vision. It is crucial for many tasks, from object recognition to tool use, and… Read More
Perceptual plausibility of exaggerated realistic motion
Squashing and stretching our way across the uncanny valley. Abstract The informal heuristic practices of the fine arts have much to offer to our understanding of the appearance of phenomenological reality. One interesting example is the use of exaggeration to… Read More
Visual perception of surface properties through direct manipulation
VSS21 – tangible materials. Some work we started at RIT / Gießen right before the universe shut down for a virus break. Snehal was quite the trooper, carrying it on while the rest of us were huddled in… Read More
Effects of the Spatial Spectrum of Illumination on Material Perception
A little VSS 2019 fun with some old friends. Old as in length of time we’ve all known each other, not in geologic age. Like all good science, things changed a little between abstract submission and the actual… Read More
Objects, Materials, Exaggeration, and Perception
For a talk @ the ASU SciHub SciAPP Workshop on Science, the Arts & Possibilities in Perception. It is tempting to think of perception as some form of physical measurement. Indeed, animals seem to act as if they are… Read More
The Archives of Potentially Amusing Scientific Images (TAPASI)
Wherein serious but silly scientific images are archived. A few months ago, I was having lunch with Sarah Creem-Reger at a conference at UofR. Somehow, the conversation got around to publishing and I relayed a story told to me… Read More
Why Does the Cortex Reorganize After Sensory Loss?
Investigating the Teleology of Cortical Reorganization A growing body of evidence demonstrates that the brain can reorganize dramatically following sensory loss. Although the existence of such neuroplastic crossmodal changes is not in doubt, the functional significance of these… Read More
VSS 2018 – Shape scission: causal segmentation of shape
Warts, cracks, causal shape segmentation. Research on shape perception usually focuses on the estimation of local surface geometry through cues like stereopsis, shading, or texture. Here, we argue that observers use these shape estimates to infer other object… Read More
The perception of surface orientation from multiple sources of optical information
The first piece of work in did in the “Todd Lab” at OSU. I had just come off five years at Pixar and a year back in grad school in the Architecture and Planning department. I wrote most of… Read More
Spring 2018 Vision in Animals, Humans and Machines — Final Projects
Vision in Humans, Animals and Machines is a seminar / hands-on course where we engage in a sort of comparative neuroscience with respect to how organic and inorganic systems ‘see’. Some things are hard for animals, some things… Read More