title: Early completion of occluded objects.
abstract: We show that early vision can use monocular cues to rapidly complete partially-occluded objects. Visual search for easily-detected fragments becomes difficult when the completed shape is similar to others in the display; conversely, search for fragments that are difficult to detect becomes easy when the completed shape is distinctive. Results indicate that completion occurs via the occlusion-triggered removal of occlusion edges and linking of associated regions. We fail to find evidence for a visible filling-in of contours or surfaces, but do find evidence for a 'functional' filling-in that prevents the constituent fragments from being rapidly accessed. As such, it is only the completed structures--and not the fragments themselves--that serve as the basis for rapid recognition.
authors.affiliation: Cambridge Basic Research, Nissan Research & Development Incorporated, 4 Cambridge Center, MA 02142-1494, USA. rensink@pathfinder.cbr.com
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rensink
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Enns
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time; D014794:Visual Fields