NE20-451E
77 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge
MA 02139
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Roland Fleming
NE20-451E 77 Mass. Ave. Cambridge MA 02139
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| I have a broad interest in visual perception, with previous work that ranges from low-level spatial vision and gain control; to mid-level vision, surface perception, grouping and segmentation; right up to high level vision and visual cognition. The unifying theme of my research is to try and understand how the visual system distinguishes between the instrinsic properties of the scene, such as shape and lightness, and extrinsic, or contingent factors, such as view position and illumination, which also play a role in determining the image on the retina. |
| I have been especially interested in the human visual perception of material properties. All objects in the world are made of some material or other, and we usually have a good idea what, just by looking. Under typical viewing conditions, we can easily distinguish between materials such as bronze, plaster, quartz, mayonnaise and tortoiseshell, despite wide variations in object shape and conditions of illumination. Without having to touch an object, we can often tell what it is made out of, whether it is hard or soft, whether it will be wet, dry or tacky to the touch, whether it will crumple or crack if we try to break it. I am trying to work out how we can do this, using a combination of theoretical research and human psychophysics. This work forms the majority of my forthcoming thesis. |
Papers and posters
Links
Perceptual Science Group web site