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Member-Initiated Symposia
2008 Symposia Perceptual expectations and the neural processing of complex images Cortical organization and dynamics for visual perception and beyond Bayesian models applied to perceptual behavior Action for perception: functional significance of eye movements for vision The past, present, and future of the written word
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Member-Initiated SymposiaMember-initiated symposia will take place at the start of this year's 2008 meeting. Four symposia will be held at each of two time slots. Pre-registration is not necessary, but rooms WILL fill up so you should plan to arrive early. Friday, May 9, 2008, 1:00 – 3:00 pmPerceptual expectations and the neural processing of complex imagesOrganizer: Bharathi Jagadeesh The processing of complex images occurs within the context of prior expectations and of current knowledge about the world. A clue about an image, "think of an elephant", for example, can cause an otherwise nonsensical image to transform into a meaningful percept. In this symposium we aim to discuss the neural substrates that underlie expectations, and their influence on sensory processing. Cortical organization and dynamics for visual perception and beyondOrganizer: Zoe Kourtzi Our ability to extract the key information from our experiences and decide how to interpret them is a key cognitive skill for successful interactions in the complex environments we inhabit. Understanding the brain's ability to convert sensory input to meaningful behaviours entails knowing what the brain parts are and how they communicate; i.e., how they exchange information and influence each other's processing and function. This symposium aims to showcase novel research findings and multidisciplinary methods for understanding the brain's organisation and dynamics that mediate our ability for adaptive behaviour and successful actions. CrowdingOrganizer: Denis G. Pelli Crowding is a breakdown of object recognition, when the visual system inappropriately integrates features over too large an area, coming up with an indecipherable jumble instead of an object. An explosion of new experiments exploit crowding to study object recognition by breaking it. Visual Memory and the BrainOrganizer: Marian Berryhill Visual memory occurs over a broad time range - from milliseconds - in order to maintain scene representations across eye movements - to years - in order to recognize an old friend. How does the brain encode, store, and retrieve these representations? What mechanism limits the resolution of visual memory? Do the same brain areas participate in short- and long- term visual memory? Does the intraparietal sulcus participate only in visual memory, or a more general role in attentionally demanding tasks? Are different brain areas critically involved in storing different visual materials, such as simple colors or complex scenes? Friday, May 9, 2008, 3:30 – 5:30 pmBayesian models applied to perceptual behaviorOrganizer: Peter Battaglia We invite researchers who are aware of Bayesian models of perception, but feel uncertain about the theory and application, to join us in a discussion designed to illuminate key issues regarding this framework for understanding perception. Our goals are two-fold: to discuss the most important ideas involving Bayesian perceptual models, and provide hands-on experience working with them. By presenting current research and follow-along tutorials, we aim to narrow the gap between those who have "heard about” Bayesian models of perception and those who can “understand and build” these models. Action for perception: functional significance of eye movements for visionOrganizers: Anna Montagnini and Miriam Spering Eye movements stabilize gaze on an object of interest to enable high-acuity visual perception (Land, 1999). This statement puts forward a prediction about perceptual consequences of eye movements: Moving our eyes improves vision. Recent research shows that vision is influenced before, during, and after the eye movement, at different levels of visuomotor processing. This symposium is devoted to new findings on the effects of voluntary and involuntary eye movements on perception of visual features, objects, and natural scenes. From the perspectives of psychophysics, neurophysiology, and modeling speakers address the question under what circumstances eye movements enhance or constrain visual perception. The past, present, and future of the written wordOrganizers: Frederic Gosselin and Bosco S.
Tjan Recently, we have witnessed significant advances in our understanding of letter identification and reading mechanisms. Can this knowledge be applied to the development of fonts optimized for normal and impaired visual systems (e.g., developmental, letter-by-letter, or deep dyslexia, macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy)? This is the challenge that the organizers of this symposium are submitting to the participants. Surface material perceptionOrganizer: Roland W Fleming When we look at an everyday object we gain information about its location and shape and also about its surface material. Not only the color but also glossiness and roughness of the skin of an orange allow us to assess its edibility. This symposium concerns recent research on surface material perception presented by six researchers in computer science, neuroscience and visual perception.
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