Contour synthesis: Psychophysics, theory, and levels of explanation

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Since the seminal debates between Helmholtz and Hering, scientists have debated how to best conceptualise how to understand perceptual organisation. One view treats perception as a form of unconscious probabilistic inference; the other treats perception as a consequence of underlying neural dynamics that is responsible for generating our experience. The project will explore a particularly vivid class of illusory contour stimuli that appear to defy probabilistic accounts of perceptual organisation. The results of these studies promise to shed light on both specific models of contour synthesis, and the broader theoretical issues involved in understanding the active role of visual processes in structuring our experience.