Abstract
In peripheral vision, objects that can be readily recognized when viewed in isolation, become unrecognizable in clutter. This is the interesting phenomenon known as visual crowding. Crowding represents an essential bottleneck, setting limits on object perception, eye movements, visual search, reading and perhaps other functions in peripheral, amblyopic and developing vision (Whitney & Levi, 2011). It is generally defined as the deleterious influence of nearby contours on visual discrimination, but the effects of crowding go well beyond impaired discrimination. Crowding impairs the ability to recognize and respond appropriately to objects in clutter. Thus, studying crowding may lead to a better understanding of the processes involved in object recognition. Crowding also has important clinical implications for patients with macular degeneration, amblyopia and dyslexia. Crowding is strongly dependent on context. The focus of this talk will be on trying to put crowding into context with other visual phenomena.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2013