Volume 6, Number 10, Article 7, Pages 1079-1086 doi:10.1167/6.10.7 http://journalofvision.org/6/10/7/ ISSN 1534-7362
The flight path of the phoenix—The visible trace of invisible elements in human vision
Thomas U. Otto
Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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Haluk Öğmen
Center for Neuro-Engineering and Cognitive Science and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, USA
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Michael H. Herzog
Laboratory of Psychophysics, Brain Mind Institute, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
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Abstract

How features are attributed to objects is one of the most puzzling issues in the neurosciences. A deeply entrenched view is that features are perceived at the locations where they are presented. Here, we show that features in motion displays can be systematically attributed from one location to another although the elements possessing the features are invisible. Furthermore, features can be integrated across locations. Feature mislocalizations are usually treated as errors and limits of the visual system. On the contrary, we show that the nonretinotopic feature attributions, reported herein, follow rules of grouping precisely suggesting that they reflect a fundamental computational strategy and not errors of visual processing.

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History
Received May 10, 2006; published September 22, 2006
Citation
Otto, T. U., Öğmen, H., & Herzog, M. H. (2006). The flight path of the phoenix—The visible trace of invisible elements in human vision. Journal of Vision, 6(10):7, 1079-1086, http://journalofvision.org/6/10/7/, doi:10.1167/6.10.7.
Keywords
metacontrast masking, feature attribution, feature integration, motion grouping, attention
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