Abstract
The role of spatial scales (or spatial frequencies) in the processing of faces, objects, and scenes has recently seen a surge of research activity. In this review, we will critically examine two main theories of scale usage. The fixed theory proposes that spatial scales are used in a fixed, perceptually determined order (coarse to fine). The flexible theory suggests instead that usage of spatial scales is flexible, depending on the requirements of visual information for the categorization task at hand. The implications of the theories are examined for face, object, and scene categorization, attention, perception, and representation.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Archambault, A., Gosselin, F., &Schyns, P. G. (2000). A natural bias for the basic level? InProceedings of the XXII Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 60–65). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bachmann, T. (1991). Identification of spatially quantised tachistoscopic images of faces: How many pixels does it take to carry identity?European Journal of Cognitive Psychology,3, 85–103.
Bachmann, T., &Kahusk, N. (1997). The effect of coarseness of quantisation, exposure duration, and selective spatial attention on the perception of spatially quantised (“blocked”) visual images.Perception,26, 1181–1196.
Badcock, J. C., Whitworth, F. A., Badcock, D. R., &Lovegrove, W. J. (1990). Low-frequency filtering and the processing of local-global stimuli.Perception,19, 617–629.
Bartlett J. C., &Searcy, J. H. (1993). Inversion and configuration of faces.Cognitive Psychology,25, 281–316.
Biederman, I., &Cooper, E. E. (1992). Size invariance in visual object priming.Journal of Experimental Psychology, Human Perception & Performance,18, 121–133.
Blackemore, C., &Campbell, F. W. (1969). On the existence of neurons in the human visual system selectively sensitive to the orientation and size of retinal images.Journal of Physiology,203, 237–260.
Breitmeyer, B. G. (1975). Simple reaction time as a measure of the temporal response properties of transient and sustained channels.Vision Research,15, 1411–1412.
Breitmeyer, B. G. (1984).Visual masking: An integrative approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
Burt, P., &Adelson, E. H. (1983). The Laplacian pyramid as a compact image code.IEEE Transactions on Communications,31, 532–540.
Calder, A. J., Young, A. W., Keane, J., &Dean, M. (2000). Configural information in facial expression perception.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,26, 527–551.
Campbell, F. W., &Green, D. G. (1965). Optical and retinal factors affecting visual resolution.Journal of Physiology,181, 576–593.
Campbell, F. W., &Robson, J. G. (1968). Application of the Fourier analysis to the visibility of gratings.Journal of Physiology,197, 551–556.
Costen, N. P., Parker, D. M., &Craw, I. (1994). Spatial content and spatial quantisation effects in face recognition.Perception,23, 129–146.
Costen, N. P., Parker, D. M., &Craw, I. (1996). Effects of high-pass and low-pass spatial filtering on face identification.Perception & Psychophysics,58, 602–612.
Davidson, M. L. (1968). Perturbation approach to spatial brightness interaction in human vision.Journal of the Optical Society of America,58, 1300–1309.
DeValois, R. L., &DeValois, K. K. (1990).Spatial vision. New York: Oxford University Press.
Enroth-Cugell, C., &Robson, J. D. (1966). The contrast sensitivity of retinal ganglion cells of the cat.Journal of Physiology,187, 517–522.
Farah, M. J., Wilson, K. D., Drain, M., &Tanaka, J. W. (1998). What is “special” about face perception?Psychological Review,105, 482–498.
Findlay, J. M., Brogan, D., &Wenban-Smith, M. G. (1993). The spatial signal for saccadic eye movements emphasizes visual boundaries.Perception & Psychophysics,53, 633–641.
Fiorentini, A., Maffei, L., &Sandini, G. (1983). The role of high spatial frequencies in face perception.Perception,12, 195–201.
Fodor, J. (1983).The modularity of mind. Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.
Ginsburg, A. P. (1986). Spatial filtering and visual form perception. In K. R. Boff, L. Kaufman & J. P. Thomas (Eds.).Handbook of perception and human performance: Vol. 2. Cognitive processes and performance (pp. 1–41). New York: Wiley.
Gish, K., Shulman, G. L., Sheehy, J. B., &Leibowitz, H. W. (1986). Reaction times to different spatial frequencies as a function of detectability.Vision Research,26, 745–747.
Gosselin, F., &Schyns, P. G. (2001). Bubbles: A new technique to reveal the use of visual information in recognition tasks.Vision Research,41, 2261–2271.
Graham, N. (1980). Spatial frequency channels in human vision: Detecting edges without edges detectors. In C. S. Harris (Ed.),Visual coding and adaptability. Hilldsale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Grice, G. R., Canham, L., &Boroughs, J. M. (1983). Forest before trees?It depends where you look. Perception & Psychophysics,33, 121–128.
Harmon, L. D. (1973). The recognition of faces.Scientific American,229, 71–82.
Harmon, L. D., &Julesz, B. (1973). Masking in visual recognition: Effects of two-dimensional filtered noise.Science,180, 1194–1197.
Hayes, T., Morrone, M., &Burr, D. C. (1986). Recognition of positive and negative bandpass-filtered images.Perception,15, 595–602.
Henning, G. B., Hertz, B. G., &Broadbent, D. E. (1975). Some experiments bearing on the hypothesis that the visual system analyzes spatial patterns in independent bands of spatial frequency.Vision Research,15, 887–897.
Hochberg, J. (1982). How big is a stimulus? In J. Beck (Ed.),Organization and representation in perception (pp. 191–217). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Hubel, D. H., &Wiesel, T. N. (1977). Functional architecture of macaque visual cortex.Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Series B,198, 1–59.
Hübner, R. (1996). Specific effects of spatial-frequency uncertainty and different cue types on contrast detection: Data and models.Vision Research,36, 3429–3439.
Hughes, H. C. (1986). Asymmetric interference between components of suprathreshold compound gratings.Perception & Psychophysics,40, 241–250.
Hughes, H. C., Fendrich, R., &Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (1990). Global versus local processing in the absence of low spatial frequencies.Journal of Cognitive Neurosciences,2, 272–282.
Hughes, H. C., Nozawa, G., &Kitterle, F. (1996). Global precedence, spatial frequency channels, and the statistics of natural images.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,8, 197–230.
Jenkins, J., Craven, B., Bruce, V., &Akamatsu, S. (1997).Methods for detecting social signals from the face (Tech. Rep. of IECE, HIP96-39). Kyoto, Japan: The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers.
Jolicoeur, P., Gluck, M., &Kosslyn, S. M. (1984). Pictures and names: Making the connection.Cognitive Psychology,19, 31–53.
Kimchi, R. (1992). Primacy of wholistic processing and global/local paradigm: A critical review.Psychological Bulletin,112, 24–38.
Lamb, M. R., &Yund, E. W. (1993). The role of spatial frequency in the processing of hierarchically organized stimuli.Perception & Psychophysics,54, 773–784.
Lamb, M. R., &Yund, E. W. (1996a). Spatial frequency and attention: Effects of level-, target-, and location-repetition on the processing of global and local forms.Perception & Psychophysics,58, 363–373.
Lamb, M. R., &Yund, E. W. (1996b). Spatial frequency and the interference between global and local levels of structure.Visual Cognition,3, 401–427.
Leder, H., &Bruce V. (1998). Local and relational effects of distinctiveness.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,51A, 449–473.
Legge, G. E., &Gu, Y. (1989). Stereopsis and contrast.Vision Research,29, 989–1004.
Lindeberg, T. (1993). Detecting salient blob-like images structures and their spatial scales with a scale-space primal sketch: A method for focus-of-attention.International Journal of Computer Vision,11, 283–318.
Macho S., &Leder, H. (1998). Your eyes only? A test of interactive influence in the processing of facial features.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,24, 1486–1500.
Mallet, S. G. (1989). A theory for multiresolution signal decomposition: The wavelet representation.IEEE Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence,11, 674–693.
Mallet, S. G. (1991). Zero-crossings of a wavelet transform.IEEE Information Theory,37, 1019–1033.
Marr, D., (1982).Vision. San Francisco: Freeman.
Marr, D., &Hildreth, E. (1980). Theory of edge detection.Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Series B,207, 187–217.
Marr, D., &Poggio, T. (1979). A computational theory of human stereo vision.Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Series B,204, 301–328.
Marshall, A., Burbeck, C. A., Ariely, J. P., Rolland, J. P., &Martin, K. E. (1996).Journal of the Optical Society of America A,13, 681–688.
Mihaylova, M., Stomonyakov, V., &Vassilev, A. (1999). Peripheral and central delay in processing high spatial frequencies: Reaction time and VEP latency studies.Vision Research,39, 699–705.
Morgan, M. J. (1992). Spatial filtering precedes motion detection.Nature,355, 344–346.
Morrison, D. J., & Schyns, P. G. (2000).Spatial scales in the Margaret Thatcher illusion. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Morrison, D. J., & Schyns, P. G. (2001).Less than meets the eye: Interactions between face processing, selective attention and scale perception. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Murphy, G. L. (1991). Parts in object concepts: Experiments with artificial categories.Memory & Cognition,19, 423–438.
Murphy, G. L., &Lassaline, M. E. (1997). Hierarchical structure in concepts and the basic level of categorization. In K. Lamberts & D. R. Shanks (Eds.),Knowledge, concepts and categories: Studies in cognition (pp. 93–131). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Murphy, G. L., &Smith, E. E. (1982). Basic level superiority in picture categorization.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,21, 1–20.
Navon, D. (1977). Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception.Cognitive Psychology,9, 353–383.
O’Donnell, C., &Bruce, V. (2001). Familiarisation with faces selectively enhances sensitivity to changes made to the eyes.Perception,30, 755–764.
Oliva, A., &Schyns, P. G. (1997). Coarse blobs or fine edges? Evidence that information diagnosticity changes the perception of complex visual stimuli.Cognitive Psychology,34, 72–107.
Pantle, A., &Sekuler, R. (1968). Size detecting mechanisms in human vision.Science,162, 1146–1148.
Paquet, L., &Merikle, P. M. (1988). Global precedence in attended and nonattended objects.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,14, 89–100.
Parker, D. M., &Costen, N. P. (1999). One extreme or the other or perhaps the golden mean? Issues of spatial resolution in face processing.Current Psychology,18, 118–127.
Parker, D. M., &Dutch, S. (1987). Perceptual latency and spatial frequency.Vision Research,27, 1279–1283.
Parker, D. M., Lishman, J. R., &Hughes, J. (1992). Temporal integration of spatially filtered visual images.Perception,21, 147–160.
Parker, D. M., Lishman, J. R., &Hughes, J. (1996). Role of coarse and fine spatial information in face and object processing.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,22, 1448–1466.
Parker, D. M., Lishman, J. R., &Hughes, J. (1997). Evidence for the view that temporospatial integration in vision is temporally anisotropic.Perception,26, 1169–1180.
Parker, D. M., &Salzen, E. A. (1977). Latency changes in the human visual evoked response to sinusoidal gratings.Vision Research,17, 1201–1204.
Pashler, H. E. (1998).The psychology of attention. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Pylyshyn, Z. (1999). Is vision continuous with cognition? The case for cognitive impenetrability of visual perception.Behavioral & Brain Sciences,22, 341–423.
Robertson, L. C. (1996). Attentional persistence for features of hierarchical patterns.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,125, 227–249.
Rosch, E., Mervis, C. B., Gray, W., Johnson, D., &Boyes-Braem, P. (1976). Basic objects in natural categories.Cognitive Psychology,8, 382–439.
Schyns, P. G. (1998). Diagnostic recognition: Task constraints, object information and their interactions.Cognition,67, 147–179.
Schyns, P. G., Goldstone, R. L., &Thibaut, J. P. (1998). The development of features in object concepts.Behavioral & Brain Sciences,21, 17–41.
Schyns, P. G., &Oliva, A. (1994). From blobs to boundary edges: Evidence for time- and spatial-scale-dependent scene recognition.Psychological Science,5, 195–200.
Schyns, P. G., &Oliva, A. (1999). Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile: When categorization flexibly modifies the perception of faces in rapid visual presentations.Cognition,69, 243–265.
Sergent, J. (1982). Theoretical and methodological consequences of variations in exposure duration in visual laterality studies.Perception & Psychophysics,31, 451–461.
Sergent, J. (1986). Microgenesis of face perception. In H. D. Ellis, M. A. Jeeves, F. Newcombe, & A. M. Young (Eds.),Aspects of face processing. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff.
Sergent, J. &Poncet, M. (1990). From covert to overt recognition of faces in a prosopagnosic patient.Brain,113, 989–1004.
Shulman, G. L., Sullivan, M. A., Gish, K., &Sakoda, W. J. (1986). The role of spatial-frequency channels in the perception of local and global structure.Perception,15, 259–273.
Shulman, G. L., &Wilson, J. (1987). Spatial frequency and selective attention to local and global information.Perception,16, 89–101.
Snowden, R. J., &Hammett, S. T. (1992). Subtractive and divisive adaptation in the human visual system.Nature,355, 248–250.
Snowden, P., &Schyns, P. G. (2000). Expectancy effects on spatial frequency processing: A psychophysical analogy to task-dependent processing of “real-world” objects and scenes.Perception,29, 24.
Strang, G., &Nguyen, T. (1997).Wavelets and filter banks. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley-Cambridge Press.
Tanaka, J. W., &Taylor, M. (1991). Object categories and expertise: Is the basic level in the eye of the beholder?Cognitive Psychology,23, 457–482.
Thomas, J. P. (1970). Model of the function of receptive fields in human vision.Psychological Review,77, 121–134.
Thompson, P. (1980). Margaret Thatcher: A new illusion?Perception,9, 483–484.
Uttal, W. R., Baruch, T., &Allen, L. (1995). Combining image degradations in a recognition task.Perception & Psychophysics,57, 682–691.
Valentine, T. (1988). Upside-down faces: A review of the effects of inversion upon face recognition.British Journal of Psychology,79, 471–491.
Watt, R. J. (1987). Scanning from coarse to fine spatial scales in the human visual system after the onset of a stimulus.Journal of the Optical Society of America A,4, 2006–2021.
Webster, M. A., &De Valois, R. L. (1985). Relationship between spatial frequencies and orientation tuning of striate-cortex cells.Journal of the Optical Society of America A,2, 1124–1132.
Wilson, H. R., &Bergen, J. R. (1979). A four-mechanism model for spatial vision.Vision Research,19, 1177–1190.
Witkin, A. P. (1987). Scale-space filtering. In M. A. Fischler & O. Firschein (Eds.),Readings in computer vision: Issues, problems, principles and paradigms (pp. 329–332). Los Altos, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.
Young, A. W., Hay, D. C., &Ellis, A. W. (1985). The faces that launched a thousand slips: Everyday difficulties and errors in recognising people.British Journal of Psychology,76, 495–523.
Young, A. W., Hellawell, D. J., &Hay, D. C. (1987). Configural information in face perception.Perception,16, 747–759.
Young, A. W., Newcombe, F., de Haan, E. H. F., Small, M., &Hay, D. C. (1993). Face perception after brain injury: Selective impairments affecting identity and expression.Brain,116, 941–959.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morrison, D.J., Schyns, P.G. Usage of spatial scales for the categorization of faces, objects, and scenes. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 8, 454–469 (2001). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196180
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196180