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Minimization of modal contours: An instance of an evolutionary internalized geometric regularity?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2002

Giorgio Vallortigara
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and B.R.A.I.N. Centre for Neuroscience, University of Trieste, 34123 Trieste, Italyvallorti@univ.trieste.it http://www.psico.univ.trieste.it/labs/acn-lab/
Luca Tommasi
Affiliation:
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italyltommasi@psico.unipd.it http://www.psy.unipd.it/~ltommasi/

Abstract

The stratification in depth of chromatically homogeneous overlapping figures depends on a minimization rule which assigns the status of being “in front” to the figure that requires the formation of shorter modal contours. This rule has been proven valid also in birds, whose visual neuroanatomy is radically different from that of other mammals, thus suggesting an example of evolutionary convergence toward a perceptual universal. [Shepard]

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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