白鷗大学教育学部
神戸文朗
Perception, 2013, volume 42, pages 849-872
doi:10.1068/p7497
On the generality of the topological theory of visual shape perception
Fumio Kanbe
Faculty of Education, Hakuoh University, 1117 Daigyoji, Oyama, Tochigi
323-8585, Japan; e‑mail: kanbe@fc.hakuoh.ac.jp Received 27 March 2013,
in revised form 26 August 2013
Abstract. This study used a series of six closely related experiments
to examine whether individuals use topological structures to
discriminate figures. Strict control was exerted over the selection of
stimuli, which were a specific type of randomly generated lined
figures that can be classified using isomorphic sets defined by graph
theory. Any two figures within an isomorphic set possessed the same
topological structure. The experiments described here used a
same/different discrimination task with simultaneously presented pairs
of figures: (a) identical pairs (Id pairs), in which each pair of
figures had the same topological and superficial properties; (b)
nonidentical and isomorphic pairs (Iso pairs), in which each pair had
the same topological but different superficial properties; and (c)
nonidentical and nonisomorphic pairs (Noniso pairs), in which each
pair had different topological properties. Within these experiments I
varied the conditions related to the intersecting line segments,
presentation of points defining each figure, figure complexity,
stimulus aspect ratios, and the parity of the total line-segment
lengths between the figures in each pair. These variations showed that
the latencies for making accurate discriminations were shorter for
Noniso pairs than for Iso pairs, suggesting that individuals are
sensitive to topology when distinguishing figures.
Keywords: topology, isomorphism, graph invariants, same/different task
