Event overview
Johan Wagemans, one of the world's leading vision scientists, is visiting Goldsmiths as part of the Whitehead Lectures to present findings on Gestalt psychology.
ABSTRACT: Gestalt psychology argued that the whole is different from the sum of the parts. Wholes were considered primary in perceptual experience, even determining what the parts are. How to reconcile this position with what we now know about the visual brain, in terms of a hierarchy of processing layers from low-level features to integrated object representations at the higher level? What exactly are the relationships between parts and wholes then? I will argue that there are different types of ³Gestalts² with their own relationships between parts and wholes, both in visual experience and in their neural encoding. Some Gestalts seem to be encoded in low-level areas based on feedback from higher-order regions. Other Gestalts seem to be encoded in higher-level areas, while the parts are encoded in lower-level areas. In some cases, this happens without suppression of the parts (³preservative Gestalts²); in others, with suppression of the parts (³eliminative Gestalts²). I will describe three studies from our own lab to illustrate these different types of Gestalts. Together, these findings support the general conclusion that not all Gestalts are equal, while the specific conceptual refinements made may help to motivate further research to better understand the mechanisms of how parts and wholes are encoded in the visual cortical hierarchy.
Bio: Johan Wagemans is professor of experimental psychology and currently director of the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology at the University of Leuven. His research interests are mainly in so-called mid-level vision (perceptual grouping, figure-ground organization, depth and shape perception) but stretching out to low-level vision (contrast detection and discrimination) and high-level vision (object recognition and categorization), including applications in autism, arts, and sports. He is supervising a long-term research program aimed at reintegrating Gestalt psychology into contemporary vision science and neuroscience (see http://www.gestaltrevision.be). He is chief-editor of Perception, i-Perception and Art & Perception.
www.gold.ac.uk/cccc/whitehead/
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Oct 2013 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm |
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