How our brain recognizes line drawings.
How is it possible for the brain to recognize drawn objects as houses or animals?
In a recent study in the Journal of Neuroscience, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, in collaboration with the Freie Universitat Berlin and Justus Liebig University Giessen, investigated how our perception of line drawings differs from natural images.
The researchers show that the perception of objects is particularly robust to changes in our environment.
Almost everyone can represent objects with a few strokes.
Kindergarten children often come home with self-drawn pictures showing mom, dad, or perhaps their own home.
And even thousands of years ago, our ancestors drew animals and other objects on cave walls with strokes.
But how is it actually possible that we recognize these objects as a house or an animal?
After all, line drawings are very different from the objects that surround us.
They often have no color, are highly simplified, and can even have a completely different shape than the real object.
Foreign [Music] How our brain recognizes line drawings How is it possible for the brain to Recognize drawn objects as houses or Animals in a recent study in the Journal Of narutions scientists from the Max Planck Institute for human cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig in Collaboration with the Free University At Berlin and Justice League University Geeson investigated how our perception Of line drawings differs from natural Images the researchers show that the Perception of objects is particularly Robust to changes in our environment Almost everyone can represent objects With a few Strokes kindergarten children Often come home with self-drawn pictures Showing mom dad or perhaps their own Home and even thousands of years ago our Ancestors Drew animals and other objects On Cave walls with strokes but how is it Actually possible that we recognize These objects as a house or an animal After all line drawings are very Different from the objects that surround Us they often have no color are highly Simplified and can even have a Completely different shape than the real Object to stay up to date with latest Top stories make sure to subscribe to This YouTube channel by clicking the Button above this video to investigate
The question of how we humans perceive Line drawings scientists at MPI CBS and Leipzig in collaboration with the Fria University at Berlin and Justice League University of kisen studied how our Perception of line drawings differs from Natural images the researchers showed The study participants pictures of Objects such as dogs or cars and three Variants once as a normal photo once as A detailed line drawing of the photo and Once as a quickly scribbled sketch while Participants looked at these pictures Their brain activity was recorded with Functional magnetic resonance imaging And magnet encephalography Johanna Singer lead author of the study explains By using these two measurement methods We were able to determine the brain Regions involved in the perception of Objects and also measure the time course Of the brain activity change with Millisecond Precision this way we were Able to accurately watch the brain at Work as it processed images of objects As photographs and as line drawings the Researchers had two hypotheses here Either our brain perceives objects Differently when depicted as line Drawings then it must resort to further Processing steps in this scenario the Line drawing of a dog has to go through An extra round in the brain figuratively Speaking before it is recognized
Alternatively our brains are already Flexible enough to recognize a dog even If it is only a few lines the results Were clear for the perception of Drawings the brain signals were very Similar to those measured for photos of Objects this means that our brains can Deal with line drawings of objects quite Automatically these results are not only Interesting for our understanding of how We perceive line drawings says Martin Hebert head of the study we also now Know that our perception of objects is Really particularly robust to changes in Our environment so our brains make it Easy for us to recognize objects when Observed as line drawings if you cannot Draw very well for example that's not so Bad the brain already helps us write Recognize what you were trying to depict In the future the researchers want to Extend these results to a larger number Of objects and to the question of Whether some line drawings might be Harder for our brains to perceive than Others [Music]
