Accurate rapid averaging of multihue ensembles is due to a limited capacity subsampling mechanism.

It is claimed that the extraction of average features from rapidly presented ensembles is holistic, with attention distributed across the whole set. We investigated whether observers' extraction of mean hue is holistic or could reflect subsampling. Analysis of selections for the mean hue revealed a distribution that peaked at the expected mean hue. However, an ideal observer simulation suggested that a subsampling mechanism incorporating just two items from each ensemble would suffice to reproduce the precision of most observers. The results imply that hue may not be averaged as holistically and efficiently as other attributes.

[1]  Daniel J Simons,et al.  Ensemble representations: effects of set size and item heterogeneity on average size perception. , 2013, Acta psychologica.

[2]  P. Lennie,et al.  Chromatic mechanisms in lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque. , 1984, The Journal of physiology.

[3]  J. D. de Fockert,et al.  Rapid extraction of mean identity from sets of faces. , 2009, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[4]  Sung Jun Joo,et al.  Statistical processing: Not so implausible after all , 2008, Perception & Psychophysics.

[5]  A. Franklin,et al.  Categorical encoding of color in the brain , 2014, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[6]  David Melcher,et al.  Characterizing ensemble statistics: mean size is represented across multiple frames of reference , 2014, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[7]  Jüri Allik,et al.  Obligatory averaging in mean size perception , 2014, Vision Research.

[8]  Karl R Gegenfurtner,et al.  Categorical sensitivity to color differences. , 2013, Journal of vision.

[9]  Chris Oriet,et al.  Size averaging of irrelevant stimuli cannot be prevented , 2013, Vision Research.

[10]  J. D. de Fockert,et al.  Short article: Priming by the mean representation of a set , 2009, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[11]  N. Srinivasan,et al.  Processing statistics: An examination of focused and distributed attention using event related potentials , 2013, Vision Research.

[12]  Daniel J. Simons,et al.  Average size perception and the allure of a new mechanism , 2008 .

[13]  Jennifer E. Corbett,et al.  Global statistical regularities modulate the speed of visual search in patients with focal attentional deficits , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[14]  A. Treisman.  How the deployment of attention determines what we see , 2006, Visual cognition.

[15]  Cathleen M Moore,et al.  Summary statistics of size: fixed processing capacity for multiple ensembles but unlimited processing capacity for single ensembles. , 2014, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[16]  Jennifer E. Corbett,et al.  The whole is indeed more than the sum of its parts: perceptual averaging in the absence of individual item representation. , 2011, Acta psychologica.

[17]  D. Simons,et al.  Better than average: Alternatives to statistical summary representations for rapid judgments of average size , 2008, Perception & psychophysics.

[18]  Nicolas Robitaille,et al.  When more is less: extraction of summary statistics benefits from larger sets. , 2011, Journal of vision.

[19]  I. Kuriki.  Testing the Possibility of Average-Color Perception from Multi-Colored Patterns , 2004 .

[20]  Jason M Haberman,et al.  The visual system discounts emotional deviants when extracting average expression , 2010, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[21]  D. W. Heeley,et al.  Cardinal directions of color space , 1982, Vision Research.

[22]  Masaaki Kawahashi,et al.  Renovation of Journal of Visualization , 2010, J. Vis..

[23]  J. Lund,et al.  Compulsory averaging of crowded orientation signals in human vision , 2001, Nature Neuroscience.

[24]  C. Summerfield,et al.  Robust averaging during perceptual judgment , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[25]  Sang Chul Chong,et al.  Mean Size as a Unit of Visual Working Memory , 2014, Perception.

[26]  R. Fletcher.  THE CITY UNIVERSITY COLOUR VISION TEST , 1984 .

[27]  A. Treisman,et al.  Attentional spread in the statistical processing of visual displays , 2005, Perception & psychophysics.

[28]  Alice R. Albrecht,et al.  Perceptually Averaging in a Continuous Visual World , 2010, Psychological science.

[29]  飯沼 巌,et al.  The City University Colour Vision Testの紹介 , 1977 .

[30]  Nienke Meulman,et al.  An ERP study on L2 syntax processing: When do learners fail? , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[31]  A. Treisman,et al.  Representation of statistical properties , 2003, Vision Research.

[32]  D. Whitney,et al.  Ensemble crowd perception: a viewpoint-invariant mechanism to represent average crowd identity. , 2013, Journal of vision.

[33]  Kerry Hourigan,et al.  Wake transition of a rolling sphere , 2011, J. Vis..

[34]  A. Oliva,et al.  The Representation of Simple Ensemble Visual Features Outside the Focus of Attention , 2008, Psychological science.

[35]  I. Utochkin,et al.  Parallel averaging of size is possible but range-limited: a reply to Marchant, Simons, and De Fockert. , 2014, Acta psychologica.

[36]  D. Ariely.  Seeing Sets: Representation by Statistical Properties , 2001, Psychological science.

[37]  Hee Yeon Im,et al.  The effects of sampling and internal noise on the representation of ensemble average size , 2012, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.

[38]  S. Dakin.  Information limit on the spatial integration of local orientation signals. , 2001, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[39]  A. Franklin,et al.  Getting the gist of multiple hues: metric and categorical effects on ensemble perception of hue. , 2014, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[40]  M. Webster,et al.  Perceiving the average hue of color arrays. , 2014, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[41]  A. Treisman,et al.  Statistical processing: computing the average size in perceptual groups , 2005, Vision Research.

[42]  D. Macleod,et al.  Color appearance depends on the variance of surround colors , 1997, Current Biology.

[43]  G. Alvarez.  Representing multiple objects as an ensemble enhances visual cognition , 2011, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[44]  J. Fockert,et al.  Attention modulates set representation by statistical properties , 2008, Perception & psychophysics.

[45]  M. Webster,et al.  Visual adaptation and face perception , 2011, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[46]  G. Buchsbaum.  A spatial processor model for object colour perception , 1980 .

[47]  D. Ariely.  Better than average? When can we say that subsampling of items is better than statistical summary representations? , 2008, Perception & psychophysics.

[48]  Jüri Allik,et al.  An almost general theory of mean size perception , 2013, Vision Research.

[49]  B. Anderson,et al.  The role of chromatic variance in modulating color appearance. , 2015, Journal of vision.

[50]  Maria Olkkonen,et al.  The central tendency bias in color perception: effects of internal and external noise. , 2014, Journal of vision.

[51]  David Melcher,et al.  Stable statistical representations facilitate visual search. , 2014, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[52]  Aude Oliva,et al.  Spatial ensemble statistics are efficient codes that can be represented with reduced attention , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[53]  S. Bentin,et al.  Crowd perception in prosopagnosia , 2012, Neuropsychologia.

[54]  Jason M Haberman,et al.  Seeing the mean: ensemble coding for sets of faces. , 2009, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[55]  Shoji Sunaga,et al.  Global color impressions of multicolored textured patterns with equal unique hue elements , 2007 .

[56]  David Whitney,et al.  An aftereffect of adaptation to mean size , 2012, Visual cognition.

[57]  G. Rhodes,et al.  Reduced face identity aftereffects in relatives of children with autism , 2012, Neuropsychologia.

[58]  A. Franklin,et al.  Effects of ensemble complexity and perceptual similarity on rapid averaging of hue. , 2015, Journal of vision.

[59]  Doris Y. Tsao,et al.  What's so special about the average face? , 2006, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[60]  C. Summerfield,et al.  Priming by the variability of visual information , 2014, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[61]  David Whitney,et al.  Ensemble perception: Summarizing the scene and broadening the limits of visual processing. , 2012 .