Ensemble size judgments account for size constancy

Abstract

The natural environment is full of redundant information that the visual system compresses into an ensemble representation by averaging features of groups of items. Ensemble perception has been shown to operate with remarkable flexibility, efficiently integrating information across a variety of visual domains. In the current set of experiments, we tested whether average size representations reflect the physical size of objects displayed on a screen or perceptual transformations due to size constancy. We induced a perceptual change by presenting sets of triangles with linear perspective cues – lines converging at the horizon. Assuming a constant size, these cues cause individual objects “in the distance” to appear larger than objects without distance cues, due to size constancy heuristics. Observers viewed sets of triangles with and without linear perspective cues and judged whether a subsequently presented test triangle was larger or smaller than the average size of the preceding set. Results revealed ensemble size representations took size constancy into account, reflecting the perceived size of the triangles rather than their absolute size. Interestingly, the amount of bias exhibited was well characterized by the summed bias associated with each of the three triangles presented individually. Other pictorial cues to depth, such as occlusion and height-in-field, did not elicit the same bias when those were the only depth cues available. Overall, our results complement and extend other work showing that average size reflects the perceptual size of individual items in a set.