Plants, to many, are simply not as interesting as animals. Students typically prefer to study animals rather than plants and recall plants more poorly, and plants are underrepresented in the classroom. The observed paucity of interest for plants has been described as "plant blindness," a term that is meant to encapsulate both the…

The visual recognition of letters dissociates from the recognition of numbers at both the behavioral and neural level. In this article, using fMRI, we investigate whether the visual recognition of numbers dissociates from letters, thereby establishing a double dissociation. In Experiment 1, participants viewed strings of consonants and Arabic…

The present study aimed to investigate whether perceptual completion is available at birth, in the absence of any visual experience. An extremely underspecified kinetic visual display composed of four spatially separated fragments arranged to give rise to an illusory rectangle that occluded a vertical rod (illusory condition) or rotated so as not…

Several different explanations have been proposed to account for the search asymmetry (SA) for angry schematic faces (i.e., the fact that an angry face target among friendly faces can be found faster than vice versa). The present study critically tested the perceptual grouping account, (a) that the SA is not due to emotional factors, but to…

Understanding vision is not a simple task. Nevertheless, a great deal is known about vision, more than about any of our other senses. The articles collected in this volume were chosen and organized with the intention of providing a survey of a number of different areas of vision research. Three major sections focus on the general categories of…

Studies demonstrate increasing glucose metabolic rates in human primary (PVC) and association (AVC) visual cortex as complexity of visual scenes increase. AVC increased more rapidly with scene complexity than PVC and increased local metabolic activities above control subject with eyes closed; indicates wide range and metabolic reserve of visual…

This study investigated whether the familiarity of an object observed by an individual influences his responses on observation and comparison tasks. Results indicated no significant differences between the number of observations of ordinary objects and the number of observations of novel objects. (MLH)

Describes the nineteenth-century parlor trick entitled the Fluttering Heart phenomenon which uses a red heart on a bright blue background. Discusses theories concerning the apparent fluttering. Suggests doing the trick with a red light-emitting diode in a darkened room. (MVL)

Reviews research done on the nature of vision from a neurologic perspective. Proposes a multiplex filter model to explain patterns in the signals transmitted to the brain from the retina. Describes experiments done to test the model. (CW)

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that graphs convey information effectively because they can display global trends as geometric patterns that visual systems encode easily. A novel type of graph was invented in which angles/lengths of line segments joined end-to-end represented variables of rainfall and temperature of a set of months. It was…

Visual stimuli to include solid objects, photographs, and drawings of the objects were used to study the process of visual perception as an inherent part of visual observation and visual comparison skills. Found that the different types of stimuli affected performance. (EB)

Discusses how an individual's visual system processes cues to motion in depth. A theoretical model of the operations of the visual system that underlie the perception of motion in depth is included. (HM)