Abstract:Physical reasoning is strongly influenced by various parameters of orientation. The authors report 3 experiments in which this phenomenon was explored for a particularly elementary transformation: the formation of a line from the intersection of 2 planes. Participants perceived pairs of planar surfaces (disks) in a variety of orientations in 3-D space and indicated the orientations of the edges that would result if the surfaces interpenetrated. The ranges of error and response time were large. Performance depe… Show more
“…Thus, when two sides were visible, observers made fairly accurate inferences. Performance on this task was likely not perfect, because interpolating the angle of an edge defined by the intersection of two planes is challenging (Pani, William, & Shippey, 1998). Fig.…”
Accurately inferring three-dimensional (3D) structure from only a cross-section through that structure is not possible. However, many observers seem to be unaware of this fact. We present evidence for a 3D amodal completion process that may explain this phenomenon and provide new insights into how the perceptual system processes 3D structures. Across four experiments, observers viewed cross-sections of common objects and reported whether regions visible on the surface extended into the object. If they reported that the region extended, they were asked to indicate the orientation of extension or that the 3D shape was unknowable from the cross-section. Across Experiments 1, 2, and 3, participants frequently inferred 3D forms from surface views, showing a specific prior to report that regions in the cross-section extend straight back into the object, with little variance in orientation. In Experiment 3, we examined whether 3D visual inferences made from cross-sections are similar to other cases of amodal completion by examining how the inferences were influenced by observers’ knowledge of the objects. Finally, in Experiment 4, we demonstrate that these systematic visual inferences are unlikely to result from demand characteristics or response biases. We argue that these 3D visual inferences have been largely unrecognized by the perception community, and have implications for models of 3D visual completion and science education.
“…Thus, when two sides were visible, observers made fairly accurate inferences. Performance on this task was likely not perfect, because interpolating the angle of an edge defined by the intersection of two planes is challenging (Pani, William, & Shippey, 1998). Fig.…”
Accurately inferring three-dimensional (3D) structure from only a cross-section through that structure is not possible. However, many observers seem to be unaware of this fact. We present evidence for a 3D amodal completion process that may explain this phenomenon and provide new insights into how the perceptual system processes 3D structures. Across four experiments, observers viewed cross-sections of common objects and reported whether regions visible on the surface extended into the object. If they reported that the region extended, they were asked to indicate the orientation of extension or that the 3D shape was unknowable from the cross-section. Across Experiments 1, 2, and 3, participants frequently inferred 3D forms from surface views, showing a specific prior to report that regions in the cross-section extend straight back into the object, with little variance in orientation. In Experiment 3, we examined whether 3D visual inferences made from cross-sections are similar to other cases of amodal completion by examining how the inferences were influenced by observers’ knowledge of the objects. Finally, in Experiment 4, we demonstrate that these systematic visual inferences are unlikely to result from demand characteristics or response biases. We argue that these 3D visual inferences have been largely unrecognized by the perception community, and have implications for models of 3D visual completion and science education.
Cognitive science has primarily studied the mental simulation of spatial transformations with tests that focus on rigid transformations (e.g., mental rotation). However, the events of our world are not limited to rigid body movements. Objects can undergo complex non-rigid discontinuous and continuous changes, such as bending and breaking. We developed a new task to assess mental visualization of non-rigid transformations. The Non-rigid Bending test required participants to visualize a continuous non-rigid transformation applied to an array of objects by asking simple spatial questions about the position of two forms on a bent transparent sheet of plastic. Participants were to judge the relative position of the forms when the sheet was unbent. To study the cognitive skills needed to visualize rigid and non-rigid events, we employed four tests of mental transformations--the Non-rigid Bending test (a test of continuous non-rigid mental transformation), the Paper Folding test and the Mental Brittle Transformation test (two tests of non-rigid mental transformation with local rigid transformations), and the Vandenberg and Kuse (Percept Motor Skills 47:599-604, 1978) Mental Rotation test (a test of rigid mental transformation). Performance on the Mental Brittle Transformation test and the Paper Folding test independently predicted performance on the Non-rigid Bending test and performance on the Mental Rotation test; however, mental rotation performance was not a unique predictor of mental bending performance. Results are consistent with separable skills for rigid and non-rigid mental simulation and illustrate the value of an ecological approach to the analysis of the structure of spatial thinking.
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