title: Camouflaged symmetry.
abstract: The notions of symmetry group and camouflage are explained, and a technique is introduced to visually camouflage symmetry groups in natural textures. Two experiments were carried out to test discriminability of symmetry groups p1, p2, pm, and pg in 4-oddity and 5AFC designs with different or same texture per set of stimulus pictures, respectively. In 4-oddity, detection of p1 was enhanced by pm distractors and impaired by those of pg. In 5AFC, p2 proved discriminable against p1; pg did not. Findings are interpreted as qualifying broad claims about symmetry as an organisational principle for vision. Further investigations of visual discrimination of symmetry operations and groups are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, D 17487 Greifswald, Germany. klaus.landwehr@uni-greifswald.de
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Landwehr
mesh_terms: D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods