Feature Binding and Object Perception

Abstract

The seemingly e¡ortless ability to perceive meaningful objects in an integrated scene actually depends on complex visual processes. The `binding problem' concerns the way in which we select and integrate the separate features of objects in the correct combinations. Experiments suggest that attention plays a central role in solving this problem. Some neurological patients show a dramatic breakdown in the ability to see several objects; their de¢cits suggest a role for the parietal cortex in the binding process. However, indirect measures of priming and interference suggest that more information may be implicitly available than we can consciously access.