Oblique warping: A general distortion of spatial perception

Cognition. 2024 Mar 28;247:105762. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105762. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThere are many putatively distinct phenomena related to perception in the oblique regions of space. For instance, the classic oblique effect describes a deficit in visual acuity for oriented lines in the obliques, and classic "prototype effects" reflect a bias to misplace objects towards the oblique regions of space. Yet these effects are explained in very different terms: The oblique effect itself is often understood as arising from orientation-selective neurons, whereas prototype effects are described as arising from categorical biases. Here, we explore the possibility that these effects (and others) may stem from a single underlying spatial distortion. We show that there is a general distortion of (angular) space in the oblique regions that influences not only orientation judgments, but also location, extent, and size. We argue that these findings reflect oblique warping, a general distortion of spatial representations in the oblique regions which may be the root cause of many oblique effects.PMID:38552560 | DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105762

Source: Cognition - March 29, 2024 Category: Neurology Authors: Sami R Yousif Samuel D McDougle Source Type: research