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Symmetry
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Symmetry of Perception and Behaviour
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Symmetry of Perception and Behaviour

A special issue of Symmetry (ISSN 2073-8994). This special issue belongs to the section "Life Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020) | Viewed by 20139

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Tadamasa Sawada

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Psychology, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
Interests: 3D perception; shape perception; 3D recovery; 3D geometry; 2D geometry
Prof. Dr. Chien-Chung Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Interests: vision; psychology; neuroscience

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Symmetry is ubiquitous in our everyday life. Many objects are symmetrical, and their surfaces are often covered with symmetrical patterns. The visual aesthetics of symmetry have been well regarded in art, and the sensitivity of the visual system to symmetry has frequently been studied in visual science. Our sensitivity to symmetry often rests on teleological explanations, but recent studies have shown that the visual system makes use of the symmetry of objects and patterns to perceive them veridically. We now possess computer vision theories and models that are based on the symmetry of objects and patterns. This Special Issue is devoted to empirical and theoretical studies of the role symmetry plays in human, computer, and animal vision in our everyday life.

Prof. Dr. Tadamasa Sawada
Prof. Dr. Chien-Chung Chen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1366 KiB  
Article
Preference for Complexity and Asymmetry Contributes to an Ability to Overcome Structured Imagination: Implications for Creative Perception Paradigm
by Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin and Morteza Charkhabi
Symmetry 2021, 13(2), 343; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13020343 - 20 Feb 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3168
Abstract
The study is a part of a research project, which explores the role of creative perception in creative behavior. We operationalized creative behavior as an ability to overcome structured imagination, as measured by the Invented Alien Creature test, and operationalized creative perception as [...] Read more.
The study is a part of a research project, which explores the role of creative perception in creative behavior. We operationalized creative behavior as an ability to overcome structured imagination, as measured by the Invented Alien Creature test, and operationalized creative perception as a preference for complexity and asymmetry, which we assessed using a standard Barron–Welsh Art Scale. Our group of participants was composed of ninety-three undergraduate students from the United Arab Emirates. The degree to which one preferred complexity and asymmetry measurably contributed to their ability to overcome structured imagination. This finding adds another brick to the rising seventh pillar of the creativity construct, namely, creative perception. The article provides a first sketch of the creative perception paradigm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry of Perception and Behaviour)
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12 pages, 1315 KiB  
Article
Visual Awareness Is Essential for Grouping Based on Mirror Symmetry
by Dina Devyatko and Ruth Kimchi
Symmetry 2020, 12(11), 1872; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12111872 - 13 Nov 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2063
Abstract
We examined whether symmetry-based grouping can take place in the absence of visual awareness. To this end, we used a priming paradigm, sandwich masking as an invisibility-inducing method, and primes and targets composed of two vertical symmetric or asymmetric lines. The target could [...] Read more.
We examined whether symmetry-based grouping can take place in the absence of visual awareness. To this end, we used a priming paradigm, sandwich masking as an invisibility-inducing method, and primes and targets composed of two vertical symmetric or asymmetric lines. The target could be congruent or incongruent with the prime in symmetry. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with masked primes and clearly visible targets. In each trial, the participants performed a two-alternative discrimination task on the target, and then rated the visibility of the prime on a subjective visibility four-point scale (used to assess prime awareness). Subjectively invisible primes failed to produce response priming, suggesting that symmetry processing might depend on visual awareness. However, participants barely saw the prime, and the results for the visible primes were inconclusive, even when we used a conservative criterion for awareness. To rule out the possibility that our prime stimuli could not produce priming per se, we conducted a control visibility experiment (Experiment 2), in which participants were presented with unmasked, clearly visible primes and performed a target task. The results showed that our primes could elicit significant response priming when visible. Taken together, our findings indicate that symmetry-based grouping requires visual awareness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry of Perception and Behaviour)
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12 pages, 1339 KiB  
Article
Influence of 3D Centro-Symmetry on a 2D Retinal Image
by Tadamasa Sawada
Symmetry 2020, 12(11), 1863; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12111863 - 12 Nov 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2784
Abstract
An object is 3D centro-symmetrical if the object can be segmented into two halves and the relationship between them can be represented by a combination of reflection about a plane and a rotation through 180° about an axis that is normal to the [...] Read more.
An object is 3D centro-symmetrical if the object can be segmented into two halves and the relationship between them can be represented by a combination of reflection about a plane and a rotation through 180° about an axis that is normal to the plane. A 2D orthographic image of the 3D centro-symmetrical object is always 2D rotation-symmetrical. Note that the human visual system is known to be sensitive to 2D rotational symmetry. This human sensitivity to 2D rotational symmetry might also be used to detect 3D centro-symmetry. If it is, can this detection of 3D centro-symmetry be helpful for the perception of 3D? In this study, the geometrical properties of 3D centro-symmetry and its 2D orthographic and perspective projections were examined to find out whether 3D centro-symmetry plays any role in the perception of 3D. I found that, from a theoretical point-of-view, it is unlikely that 3D centro-symmetry can be used by the human visual system to organize a 2D image of an object in a way that makes it possible to recover the 3D shape of an object from its 2D image. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry of Perception and Behaviour)
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11 pages, 3001 KiB  
Article
Symmetry Modulates the Amplitude Spectrum Slope Effect on Visual Preference
by Chia-Ching Wu and Chien-Chung Chen
Symmetry 2020, 12(11), 1820; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12111820 - 3 Nov 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3250
Abstract
Within the spectrum of a natural image, the amplitude of modulation decreases with spatial frequency. The speed of such an amplitude decrease, or the amplitude spectrum slope, of an image affects the perceived aesthetic value. Additionally, a human observer would consider a symmetric [...] Read more.
Within the spectrum of a natural image, the amplitude of modulation decreases with spatial frequency. The speed of such an amplitude decrease, or the amplitude spectrum slope, of an image affects the perceived aesthetic value. Additionally, a human observer would consider a symmetric image more appealing than they would an asymmetric one. We investigated how these two factors jointly affect aesthetic preferences by manipulating both the amplitude spectrum slope and the symmetric level of images to assess their effects on aesthetic preference on a 6-point Likert scale. Our results showed that the preference ratings increased with the symmetry level but had an inverted U-shaped relation to amplitude spectrum slope. In addition, a strong interaction existed between symmetry level and amplitude spectrum slope on preference rating, in that symmetry can amplify the amplitude spectrum slope’s effects. A quadratic function of the spectrum slope can describe such effects. That is, preference is an inverted U-shaped function of spectrum slope whose intercept is determined by the number of symmetry axes. The modulation depth of the quadratic function manifests the interaction between the two factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry of Perception and Behaviour)
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15 pages, 2198 KiB  
Article
Face Preference in Infants at Six and Nine Months Old: The Effects of Facial Attractiveness and Observation Experience
by Kana Kuraguchi, Kosuke Taniguchi, Kei Kanari and Shoji Itakura
Symmetry 2020, 12(7), 1082; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12071082 - 1 Jul 2020
Viewed by 5046
Abstract
Attractiveness is perceived based on both facial physical features and prior experience for adults. Infants also prefer attractive or familiar faces, but it is unclear whether facial physical features and prior experience affect their preference. In this study, we investigated whether infants’ preference [...] Read more.
Attractiveness is perceived based on both facial physical features and prior experience for adults. Infants also prefer attractive or familiar faces, but it is unclear whether facial physical features and prior experience affect their preference. In this study, we investigated whether infants’ preference for faces was shaped by both facial physical features and facial looking experience. This experiment comprised two tasks, observation and preference looking. We manipulated fixation durations in the first task (observation experience) to differ between presented faces and measured the preference for faces in the second task right after the observation task. We conducted two experiments: the same faces in the same positions through both tasks in Experiment 1, and the same faces in different positions in Experiment 2, and analyzed the interaction between observation experience and attractiveness of face images in terms of preference. Observation experience and facial attractiveness only affected preference in Experiment 2: Infants generally looked longer at the flickered position but different face, but looked for the attractive face when the face in the flickered position changed from attractive to unattractive. We suggest that observation experience arouses spatial attention, and that facial attractiveness attracts infants’ attention only when they notice changes of faces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry of Perception and Behaviour)
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32 pages, 5506 KiB  
Article
Time for Change: Implementation of Aksentijevic-Gibson Complexity in Psychology
by Aleksandar Aksentijevic, Anja Mihailovic and Dragutin T. Mihailovic
Symmetry 2020, 12(6), 948; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12060948 - 4 Jun 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2950
Abstract
Given that complexity is critical for psychological processing, it is somewhat surprising that the field was dominated for a long time by probabilistic methods that focus on the quantitative aspects of the source/output. Although the more recent approaches based on the Minimum Description [...] Read more.
Given that complexity is critical for psychological processing, it is somewhat surprising that the field was dominated for a long time by probabilistic methods that focus on the quantitative aspects of the source/output. Although the more recent approaches based on the Minimum Description Length principle have produced interesting and useful models of psychological complexity, they have not directly defined the meaning and quantitative unit of complexity measurement. Contrasted to these mathematical approaches are various ad hoc measures based on different aspects of structure, which can work well but suffer from the same problem. The present manuscript is composed of two self-sufficient, yet related sections. In Section 1, we describe a complexity measure for binary strings which satisfies both these conditions (Aksentijevic–Gibson complexity; AG). We test the measure on a number of classic studies employing both short and long strings and draw attention to an important feature—a complexity profile—that could be of interest in modelling the psychological processing of structure as well as analysis of strings of any length. In Section 2 we discuss different factors affecting the complexity of visual form and showcase a 2D generalization of AG complexity. In addition, we provide algorithms in R that compute the AG complexity for binary strings and matrices and demonstrate their effectiveness on examples involving complexity judgments, symmetry perception, perceptual grouping, entropy, and elementary cellular automata. Finally, we enclose a repository of codes, data and stimuli for our example in order to facilitate experimentation and application of the measure in sciences outside psychology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry of Perception and Behaviour)
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