Implications of measurement of eye fixations for a psychophysics of form perception

Abstract

It was suggested that insights into feature analysis of processes involved in form identification might be gained from an analysis of eye movements made by Ss as they identified patterns. Fixations were measured during identifications of histoforms, polygons, and Vargus 10 figures. Eye fixations were measured, and Ss rated sections of the figures in terms of their importance. Eye fixations were measured in terms of number of changes and duration of fixations, The number of changes in fixation were found to reflect only individual differences. Duration of fixation was found to vary significantly with location within figures, with fixations being longest where changes of contour occurred. There was also a tendency to look longer at the top of polygons and Vargus 10 figures and at the center of histoforms. Ratings of importance were highest for sections of figures fixated for longer duration-generally areas in which changes of contour were present.

The interaction of modality condition and presentation rate in short-term contour recognition

“…For instance, the angles or comers of a visual figure are considered to have high information value (Attneave, 1954), and they are fixated by the subjects longer than other parts (Baker & Loeb, 1973). Accordingly, Dyson and Watkins (1984) tested the salience of melodic contour reversal points (an up directional change followed by a down, or vice versa), which are analogous to visual comers.…”

A figural approach to the role of melodic contour in melody recognition

“…One difficulty lies in objectively defining the elements of the figure to which the informational values are attached. Nevertheless, a study by Baker and Loeb (1973) provides some support for the importance of corners in visual perception. Their observers fixated longer on corners of patterns than on other parts and rated these sections as important for the purposes of identification.…”

Testing the attentional model of brightness contrast with relative area and figure-ground organization unconfounded

“…The brightness of each area would be intgrated separately and the absolute brightness would be an average of area brightness normally weighted by relative area. In view of Baker and Loeb's (1973) recent finding that for two-dimensional black-white forms the number of changes in eye fixations represented individual differences and that location of the fixations were related to position preferences and the configuration of the form, duration of the integrating process might also be an appropriate weighting factor.…”