title: Constructing surfaces and contours in displays of color from motion: the role of nearest neighbors and maximal disks.
abstract: Color-from-motion displays consist of a sparse array of dots which never move but change color according to various algorithms. Yet such displays can trigger human vision to construct apparent motion of a subjective surface which is uniformly colored and bounded by a subjective contour. We show that the perceptual strength of this construction depends on the density and regularity of dot placement. We studied three objective measures of density and regularity: nearest-neighbor distance, mean of maximal disks, and variance of maximal disks. We found that nearest-neighbor mechanisms alone are inadequate to account for the perceptual strength of the subjective surfaces and contours. Mechanisms sensitive to areal gaps provide a more adequate account.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine 92697, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fidopiastis
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Prophet
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology