Recognizing faces defined by texture gradients.
Texture gradients can reveal surface orientation in a manner similar to shape from shading, and therefore provide an important cue for object recognition. In this study, we tested whether a complex 3-D object, such as a face, can be identified from texture gradients alone. The stimuli were laser-scanned faces for which the texture element was a fractal-noise pattern mapped onto the 3-D surface. An eight-alternative forced choice task was used in which participants matched a face defined by texture gradients to one of eight faces defined by shape from shading (Experiment 1) or by texture gradients (Experiment 2). On average, participants scored 24% and 18%, respectively, above chance in these experiments. Although this performance was much poorer than the performance based entirely on shape-from-shading stimuli (Experiment 3), the results suggest that texture gradient information may be used to recover surface geometry of complex objects.
Liu
Chang Hong
CH
Department of Psychology, University of Hull, Hull, England. c.h.liu@hull.ac.uk
Collin
Charles A
CA
Farivar
Reza
R
Chaudhuri
Avi
A
D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D003867:Depth Perception; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005145:Face; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011601:Psychophysics; D014163:Transfer, Psychology