A novel noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method was developed to determine in vivo blood oxygen saturation and its changes during motor cortex activation in small cerebral veins. Specifically, based on susceptibility measurements in the resting states, pial veins were found to have a mean oxygen saturation of Yrest=0.544+/-0.029 averaged over 14 vessels in 5 volunteers. During activation, susceptibility measurements revealed an oxygen saturation change of DeltaYsusc=0.14+/-0.02. Independent evaluation from blood flow velocity measurements yielded a value of DeltaYflow=0.14+/-0.04 for this change. These results validate the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) model in functional MRI (fMRI).

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Amodal completion of partly occluded figures is analyzed as natural computation. Here amodal completion is shown to consist of four subproblems: representation, parsing, correspondence, and interpolation. Second, each problem is shown to be basically solvable on the basis of the generic-viewpoint assumption. It is also argued that the interpolation problem might be the key problem because of mutual interdependence among the subproblems. Third, a theory is described for the interpolation problem, in which the generic-viewpoint assumption and the curvature-consistency assumption are presumed. The generic-viewpoint assumption entails that the orientation and the curvature should not change at the point of occlusion. The curvature-consistency assumption entails that the hidden contour should have the minimum number of inflections to maintain continuity in orientation and curvature. The shape of the interpolated contour represented qualitatively in terms of the number of inflections can uniquely be determined when the location of the terminators and local orientation and curvature of the visible contours at the terminators are given. Fourth, it is shown in an instant psychophysics that the theory is highly consistent with human performance.

A novel kind of depth-spreading effect which should be distinguished in various aspects from the known interpolation, averaging, or 'filling-in' phenomena is reported. The demonstrations and experiments suggest that depth from an uncrossed disparity can be extrapolated from, not just interpolated between, illusory or real contours to form perceptually a background surface. In addition, the form of the illusory contour itself could be drastically changed in configuration and sharpness, contingently with perceptual background-surface formation. No such effects of surface and contour formation were observed in the crossed disparity case. Because the illusory contours were enhanced and perceived as illusory 'occluding contours', these effects may be closely related to the 'occlusion constraints' in the real world.