Staying in bounds: Contextual constraints on object-file coherence

Abstract

Coherent visual perception necessitates the ability to track distinct objects as the same entities over time and motion. Calculations of such object persistence appear to be fairly automatic and constrained by specific rules. We explore the nature of object persistence here within the object-file framework; object files are mid-level visual representations that track entities over time and motion as the same persisting objects and store and update information about the objects. We present three new findings. First, objects files are constrained by the principle of “boundedness”; persisting entities should maintain a single closed contour. Second, object files are constrained by the principle of “containment”; all the parts and properties of a persisting object should reside within, and be connected to, the object itself. Third, object files are sensitive to the context in which an object appears; the very same physical entity that can instantiate object-file formation in one experimental context cannot in another. This contextual influence demonstrates for the first time that object files are sensitive to more than just the physical properties contained within any given visual display.

Acknowledgements

For helpful conversation/comments, we thank Jim Brockmole, Tao Gao, Robert Gordon, John Henderson, Andrew Hollingworth, Brian Scholl, Mowei Shen, anonymous reviewers, and the members of the Duke Visual Cognition Lab. We thank Melissa Bulkin, Ricky Green, Katie Grant, and Tina Liang for help with data collection. This research was supported by NIH grant R03 MH080849 from the National Institute of Mental Health.