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VISUAL PERCEPTION

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Rebecca Lawson's research


My research investigates diverse aspects of processing in the human object recognition system. I am particularly interested in how we achieve visual and haptic object constancy and how we categorise stimuli in order to discriminate between different shapes. (Haptics is active touch). I conduct empirical research which measures the speed and accuracy of human performance at recognising familiar and novel objects using our eyes or our hands in the face of disruptive object transformations such as plane and depth rotation and size changes. I also manipulate memory, context and attentional demands on participants.

There are a group of us working on a range of topics within visual perception here at the School of Psychology in the University of Liverpool, in the Visual Perception Group

In particular, Marco Bertamini and I collaborate on research into people's perception and beliefs about images on mirrors and windows and we have also been investigating the role of convexities and concavities in determining the shape and, in particular, the part structure of objects. Marco Bertamini's website is here

I also have a long-term collaboration with Professor Heinrich Bulthoff at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. in Tubingen, Germany.

If you want to contact me about my research, my email address is rlawson@liv.ac.uk.

I am always interested in discussing options for doing a PhD with me.

Specifically, right now (Nov 2011; to be submitted Jan 2012) I am working on a proposal for funding for a PhD which would start in Sept 2012 and for which I need to find that rarest of things, a student with knowledge of both experimental psychology and computer programming. The project will investigate human categorisation and would involve programming using Python. You would also need to be a UK or EU citizen and to have been living in the UK for the last 3 years. Finally, you need to have a strong academic record, having either already got or anticipating getting a relevant first class undergraduate degree and/or a distinction in a relevant masters programme. Experience of programming would be ideal, but at least you should have a willingness and interest in learning. A tall order, I agree! Please do get in touch with me right away (rlawson@liv.ac.uk) if this sounds interesting.

Me, Marco, Susan (Dan Liu) and Marco's son, Leonardo, holding our experimental stimuli for the mirror and window studies.

I investigate how humans recognise, categorise and understand the function of everyday objects, concentrating on three areas. I examine how our visual system achieves view generalisation for similar and dissimilar objects by comparing performance with novel objects to everyday, familiar objects and for 2D images relative to 3D objects. I have used a 3D ABS-plastic printer to create 3D morphed objects. I also investigate whether accounts of visual object recognition can be extended to predict performance at haptic object recognition and if objects presented visually or haptically activate bi-modal (visual-haptic) representations. In addition I probe what people understand about how objects function and the limitations of their knowledge. Together this research provides converging evidence about how people process different sources of information about familiar objects. The aim is to establish a coherent theoretical framework for understanding the perceptual and conceptual processes involved in object recognition and understanding.

It's easy for academics to notch up thousands of airmiles annually. Since 2004, I have stopped flying to conferences or institutions in order to reduce my carbon footprint. Email and the web reduces the need to travel and I try to combine conferences with holidays.

If you want to know more, try wikipedia on aviation and climate change or this briefing from Airportwatch or, if you prefer a good rant, try Julian's Myron Ebbell blog - you were warned.

Muddy, after a trip down Ireby Fell Caven in Yorkshire.

Peer-reviewed publications (with links to abstracts and to PDF files) and submitted papers

Lawson, R., Todd, J. G., Powell, S., Roberts, J., Quinn, H., & Quinlan, H. (2012). How do we sort everyday objects into categories? Submitted.

Martinovic, J., Lawson, R., & Craddock, M., (2012). Time course of information processing in visual and haptic object identification. Submitted.

Lawson, R. (2012). Mirrors, mirrors on the wall ... the ubiquitous multiple reflection error. Cognition, 122, 1-11. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Bertamini, M., Berselli, N., Bode, C., Lawson, R., & Wong, L. (2011). The rubber hand illusion in a mirror. Consciousness and Cognition, 20, 1108-1119. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Craddock, M., Martinovic, J., & Lawson, R., (2011). An advantage for active versus passive aperture-viewing in visual object recognition. Perception, 40, 1154-1163. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (2011). An investigation into the cause of orientation-sensitivity in haptic object recognition. Seeing and Perceiving, 24, 293-314. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Bracken, S. (2011). Haptic object recognition: how important are depth cues and plane orientation? Perception, 40, 576-597. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Bertamini, M., Lawson, R., Jones, L., & Winters, M. (2010). The Venus effect in real life and in photographs. Attention, Perception and Psychophysics, 72, 1948-1964.Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Craddock, M., & Lawson, R. (2010). The effects of temporal delay and orientation on haptic object recognition. Attention, Perception and Psychophysics, 72, 1975-1980.Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (2010). People cannot locate the projection of an object on the surface of a mirror. Cognition, 115, 336-342. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Craddock, M., & Lawson, R. (2009a). Size-sensitive perceptual representations underlie visual and haptic object recognition. PLoS ONE, 4, e8009. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0008009. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Craddock, M., & Lawson, R. (2009b). Do left and right matter for haptic object recognition of familiar objects? Perception, 38, 1355-1376. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Craddock, M., & Lawson, R. (2009c). The effects of size changes on haptic object recognition. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71, 910-923. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (2009). A comparison of the effects of depth rotation on visual and haptic three-dimensional object recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 911-930. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Craddock, M., & Lawson, R. (2008). Repetition priming and the haptic recognition of familiar and unfamiliar objects. Perception and Psychophysics, 70, 1350-1365. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Bulthoff, H. H. (2008). Using morphs of familiar objects to examine how shape discriminability influences view sensitivity. Perception and Psychophysics, 70, 853-877. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Bertamini, M., & Lawson, R. (2008). Rapid figure-ground responses to stereograms reveal an advantage for a convex foreground. Perception, 37, 483-494. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Bertamini, M., Lawson, R., & Liu, D. (2008). Understanding 2D projections on mirrors and on windows. Spatial Vision, 21, 273-289. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., Bertamini, M., & Liu, D. (2007). Overestimation of the projected size of objects on the surface of mirrors and windows. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 33, 1027-1044. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (2007). Local and global processing biases fail to influence face, object and word recognition. Visual Cognition, 15, 710-740. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Bertamini, M., & Lawson, R. (2006). Visual search for a circular region perceived as a figure versus as a hole: Evidence of the importance of part structure. Perception and Psychophysics, 68, 776-791. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (2006). The science of cycology: Failures to understand how everyday objects work. Memory and Cognition, 34, 1667-1675. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Bertamini, M. (2006). Errors in judging information about reflections in mirrors. Perception, 35, 1265-1288. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Bulthoff, H. H. (2006). Comparing view sensitivity in shape discrimination with shape sensitivity in view discrimination. Perception and Psychophysics, 68, 655-673. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (2004a). Recognising a plane-rotated view of a familiar object is not influenced by the ease of specifying the main axis of elongation of that object. Perception and Psychophysics, 66, 234-248. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (2004b). Depth rotation and mirror-image reflection reduce affective preference as well as recognition memory for pictures of novel objects. Memory and Cognition, 32, 1170-1181. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (2004c). View-sensitivity increases for same shape matches if mismatches show pairs of more similar shapes. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 11 896-902. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (2003). The effects of context on learning to identify plane-misoriented views of familiar objects. Visual Cognition, 10, 795-821. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., Bulthoff, H. H., & Dumbell, S. (2003). Interactions between view changes and shape changes in picture-picture matching. Perception, 32, 1465-1498. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Jolicoeur, P. (2003). Recognition thresholds for plane-rotated pictures of familiar objects. Acta Psychologica, 112, 17-41. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., Humphreys, G. W., & Jolicoeur, P. (2000). The combined effects of plane disorientation and foreshortening on picture naming: one manipulation or two? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 26, 568-581. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R. (1999). Achieving visual object constancy over plane rotation and depth rotation. Acta Psychologica, 102, 221-245. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Humphreys, G. W. (1999). The effects of view in depth on the identification of line drawings and silhouettes of familiar objects: normality and pathology. Visual Cognition, 6, 165-195. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Jolicoeur, P. (1999). The effect of prior experience on recognition thresholds for plane-disoriented pictures of familiar objects. Memory and Cognition, 27, 751-758. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Jolicoeur, P., Corballis, M. C., & Lawson, R. (1998). The influence of perceived rotary motion on the recognition of rotated objects. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 5, 140-146. Click to download PDF of paper or for the click here for text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Humphreys, G. W. (1998a). View-specific effects of depth rotation and foreshortening on the initial recognition and priming of familiar objects. Perception and Psychophysics, 60, 1052-1066. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Humphreys, G. W. (1998b). The neuropsychology of visual object constancy. In V. Walsh & J. Kulikowski (Eds.), Perceptual Constancies: Why things look as they do. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lawson, R. & Jolicoeur, P. (1998). The effects of plane rotation on the recognition of brief masked pictures of familiar objects. Memory and Cognition, 26, 791-803. Click to download PDF of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., & Humphreys, G. W. (1996). View-specificity in object processing: Evidence from picture matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 22, 395-416. Click to download PDF file of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Lawson, R., Humphreys, G. W., & Watson, D. G. (1994). Object recognition under sequential viewing conditions: evidence for viewpoint-specific recognition procedures. Perception, 23, 595-614. Click to download PDF file of paper or for the text of the abstract only.

Valentine, T., Bredart, S., Lawson, R., & Ward, G. (1991). What's in a name? Access to information from people's names. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 3, 147-176.

On a frozen lake in Austria

North Wales, after a dive off our canoes

Daren Cilau, Where the Sun Don't Shine (photo by Patrick Warren)

Gondo canyon, Switzerland (photo by Andrew Atkinson)

Ogof Hesp Alyn, beyond the sumps (photo by Gethin Thomas)