The order of visual processing: “Top-down,” “bottom-up,” or “middle-out”

Abstract

This paper deals with the order in which different levels of form are recognized in a visual image. An experiment is reported in which the size of a tachistoscopically viewed image was varied. The results suggest neither an invariant "top-down" (gross shapes first followed by lower-order details) or "bottom-up" (the opposite) sequence. Rather, they seem to suggest a sort of "middle-out" sequence: forms at some intermediate level of structure having an optimal size or spatial-frequency spectrum are processed first, with subsequent processing of both higher and lower levels of form.Contemporary theories of visual information processing have been strongly influenced by work on computer pattern recognition, particularly the concept of image structure employed in syntactic scene analysis (see Fu, 1974). The idea is that an image (a "scene") can be parsed into hierarchical levels of form, much as a paragraph can be parsed into sentences, phrases, words, etc. The value of such a representation stems from the redundancy (correlation) between different levels of structure in most scenes. For example, the fact that a scene contains a "head" is highly correlated with the presence of such lowerorder components as "eyes," "ears," and "nose," etc. Knowledge of such structural redundancy can facilitate computer processing of images, just as syntactical redundancy facilitates the processing of language.This redundancy can be utilized in a "top-down" sequence of processing, where the identification of a higher-order form (e.g., head) facilitates its subsequent analysis into lower-order components (e.g., eyes, ears, etc.) or in a "bottom-up" sequence, whereby identification of the lower-order components facilitates their subsequent synthesis into the higher-order form. Redundancy has also been employed in more complicated sequences involving both top-down and bottomup components, for example, "analysis by synthesis," in which a tentative synthesis of components into a higher-order form facilitates subsequent analysis of previously ambiguous components (e.g., Halle & Stevens, 1962).

Auditory attention to frequency and time: an analogy to visual local–global stimuli

“…This idea has been widely disputed, especially based on evidence challenging global RT advantages. The effect can change from an overall global advantage to a local one, depending on the overall size of the stimuli (Kinchla & Wolfe, 1979), their size ratio (Kimchi & Palmer, 1982), and whether the stimuli are presented to the fovea or the periphery . In Experiment 1, the High-Low stimuli were associated with an overall advantage for the high frequency range compared to the low frequency range, despite the fact that the frequencies were corrected for loudness (compare the two rightmost bars of Fig.…”

Working memory load can both improve and impair selective attention: Evidence from the Navon paradigm

“…In Experiment 3, we therefore added a condition without additional WM load in order obtain a baseline measure of local and global interference on our task. In addition, to promote global precedence, we increased the salience of the global form by increasing the number of local elements contained within each global shape (Kinchla & Wolfe, 1979).…”

Short-term memory effects on visual global/local processing in tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.).

“…This hypothesis, called the 'global precedence 38 hypothesis', has been widely confirmed in the human literature (e.g., Kimchi, 1992, 39 1998; Lamb, Robertson, & Knight,1990). Nevertheless, global preference seems to 40 decrease with the increase of either stimulus size (Kinchla & Wolfe, 1979;Lamb & 41 Robertson, 1988) or the distance between the elements composing the global 42 configuration (Martin, 1979). 43…”