Discovery may prove useful for the study of the human visual system.
Physicist Richard Taylor (Richard Taylor) from the University of Oregon in the USA have discovered why people see different images in these abstract images as “Rorschach spots”. The important role played by the visual complexity of the picture — the smaller, the more shapes can be seen. Their findings scientist presented in the article published in the journal PLoS ONE. Briefly about it it is told in the journal Nature.
In his research, Taylor took advantage of this mathematical characteristics of images, as a fractal complexity (fractal complexity). Call a fractal pattern that is self-similar, i.e. it has the same shape as one of its parts. This property is possessed such objects in nature as trees, clouds or the circulatory system of humans and animals. Fractal complexity is determined via the D-value which can be set as 1.0 (smooth line) and 2.0 (figure forms a surface, and individual lines are indistinguishable).
Scientist has assigned D-values of the five “Rorschach spots” — the patterns of symmetrical ink blots, which in 60 years was widely used as a diagnostic test. For this he used a special computer algorithm that processes the image and recognizes its boundaries. Fractal complexity of the analyzed “spots” covered a range of D-values from 1.1 to 1.3.
In addition, the researcher examined the test scores of over a thousand patients who reported different images (percepta), which was associated with these blots. It turned out that with increasing D-value the number of perceptol decreased. In other words, the more the fractal complexity of the image, the smaller images can see it. A similar result was obtained in the experiment with the participation of 23 University students, which examined 24 computer-generated “spots” Rorschach with a range of D-values from 1.05 to 1.95.
According to Taylor, opening it may prove useful for studying the human visual system, and in the development of camouflage materials. In addition, the work allows us to understand how people perceive abstract art works. So, American artist Jackson Pollock was sprayed on the canvas to paint, and, according to the scientist, made patterns with high fractal complexity, so that the audience could not see in the picture the extra images.
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