Research
1. Object representation and perception
I study the principles that guide object representation and perception, and extend those principles to structures that are not conventional objects but governed by similar principles.
Orbit-Centered Representation (OCR)
I use multiple-object tracking (MOT) as a paradigm to investigate what kind of representation is used during different motion types. The OCR hypothesis predicts that rotating objects are represented in a compositional way, which is different from other types of motion (i.e., translation).
2. Representation format and computations
Humans flexibly use different formats to represent incoming information. When the way information is represented matches task-specific procedural demands, performance is typically better. However, when there is a mismatch between the representation and the task, performance tends to suffer. I use the multiple object tracking (MOT) paradigm and visual illusions to provide evidence for this claim.
When the representation format and task-specific procedural demands conflict:
One side of the coin is that when the representation format and task-specific procedural demands conflict, task performance suffers.
Object Tracking
I use the multiple object tracking (MOT) paradigm to show that when the representation format and the task-specific procedural demands conflict, task performance is bad. see a demo here
Visual Illusions
Visual illusions are interesting cases where we can take a glimpse at how the visual system works by looking at the errors it makes. I designed and created various visual illusions. I think visual illusions can tell us a lot about how humans see the world and how their mind works. Visual illusions are also fun and cool to look at. See some of the visual illusions I created in ‘Demo’. I investigated two visual illusions, both show that when the representation format and the task-specific procedural demands conflict, task performance is bad.
Motion Silencing Illusion
The first is called the Motion Silencing Illusion. My work shows that motion silencing is not caused by things moving too fast, but rather it is an attribution error (i.e., difficulties in attributing the disc’s color to the its location). Download paper here
the Freezing Rotation Illusion
The second is called the Freezing Rotation Illusion. see a demo here
When the representation format and task-specific procedural demands are aligned:
I also provide evidence from the other side for the same claim. When the representation format and task-specific procedural demands are aligned, task performance is good.
Advantageous tracking in rotation
3. Beauty Perception
I am interested in the perception of beauty.
The dimensionality of beauty
One fundamental question about perception is how many numbers (or dimensions) are needed to fully describe it. For example, color is three-dimensional, area is two-dimensional, and length is one-dimensional. How many numbers are needed to describe beauty? VSS poster