Complex Visual Information Processing from Real-World Environments

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The world around us constantly changing and we have to keep up with that change. Whether it is driving in a car or searching for your wallet in the living room, our visual system has to be able to manage the incoming information and integrate relevant information from our memories. This project is aimed at investigating the underlying perceptual and cognitive processes that allow us to perform at such a high-level. In a series of experiments, two main processes will be addressed: the initial rapid processing that characterizes a scene in less than a single glance and the subsequent exploration (as we look around) that is oriented towards useful information. For each of these processes, my students and I will investigate what types of information are most important, how information is updated, and how previous knowledge affects how we see new information. The results of this investigation will expand our basic knowledge of how the visual system functions in complex environments and can be applied to developing artificial systems to successfully manage complex visual information (e.g., searching surveillance images for a specific target or sorting images by meaning) or towards the development of programs to help processing of complex visual information in special populations (e.g., ADHD, autism or older adults).