Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Although most recent research on visual object recognition suggests that shape is represented in a viewer-centered reference frame, Tarr and Pinker (Psychological Science, 1990) propose that object-centered representations exist, but can code the spatial relations among the parts of an object along only one dimension. This hypothesis was formulated on the basis of research with novel abstract shapes. We tested and confirmed the generality of this hypothesis for the recognition of realistic line drawings of familiar objects. The results also allow us to rule out previous hypotheses concerning the shift from orientation dependence to orientation independence in the recognition of repeatedly viewed drawings.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Marr

(1982). Vision. New York: Freeman.

McMullen

P.A.

Jolicoeur

(1990). The spatial frame of reference in object naming and discrimination of left-right reflections. Memory & Cognition, 18, 99–115.

McMullen

P.A.

Jolicoeur

(submitted). Effects of orientation and reference frame on finding the top and bottom of rotated objects.

Jolicoeur

(1985). The time to name disoriented natural objects. Memory & Cognition, 13, 289–303.

Jolicoeur

(1988). Mental rotation and the identification of disoriented objects. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 42, 461–478.

Jolicoeur

Milliken

(1989). Identification of disoriented objects: Effects of context of prior presentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 15, 200–210.

Snodgrass

J.G.

Vanderwart

M.A.

(1980). Standardized set of 260 pictures: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory. 6, 174–215.

Tarr

M.J.

Pinker

(1989). Mental rotation and orientation-dependence in shape recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 233–282.

Tarr

M.J.

Pinker

(1990). When does human object recognition use a viewer-centered reference frame?Psychological Science, I, 253–256.

Viewer-Centered and Object-Centered Representations in the Recognition of Naturalistic Line Drawings

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References