Ensemble coding: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:48, 13 August 2023

Latest revision as of 03:58, 16 August 2025

(7 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)

Line 1:

{{Short description|Ensemble coding, also known as ensemble perception or summary representation, is a theory}}

{{for|the approach to creating consistent software applications across various devices and interfaces|ensemble programming}}

'''Ensemble coding''', also known as '''ensemble perception''' or '''summary representation''', is a theory in [[cognitive neuroscience]] about the internal representation of groups of objects in the [[human mind]]. Ensemble coding proposes that such information is recorded via [[summary statistics]], particularly the [[average]] or [[variance]]. Experimental evidence tends to support the theory for low-level visual information, such as shapes and sizes, as well as some high-level features such as face [[gender]]. Nonetheless, it remains unclear the extent to which ensemble coding applies to high-level or non-visual stimuli, and the theory remains the subject of active research.

==Theory==

Extensive amounts of information are available to the [[visual system]]. Ensemble coding is a theory that suggests that people process the general gist of their complex visual surroundings by grouping objects together based on shared properties. The world is filled with redundant information of which the human [[visual system]] has become particularly sensitive.<ref name="Whitney_2014" /><ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Whitney D, Haberman J, Sweeny T | date = 2014 | chapter = From textures to crowds: multiple levels of summary statistical perception. | title = In The New Visual Neuroscience | veditors = Werner JS, Chalupa LM | pages = 695–710 | ___location = Cambridge, MA | publisher = MIT Press }}</ref> The brain exploits this redundancy and condenses the information. For example, the leaves of a tree or blades of grass give rise to the percept of 'tree-ness' and 'lawn-ness'.<ref name="Haberman_2012">{{cite book |last1=Haberman |first1=Jason |last2=Whitney |first2=David| name-list-style = vanc | chapter = Ensemble Perception |date = May 2012 | title = From Perception to Consciousness |pages=339–349 |editor-last=Wolfe |editor-first=Jeremy |editor2-last=Robertson |editor2-first=Lynn |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199734337.003.0030 |isbn=978-0-19-973433-7}}</ref> It has been demonstrated that individuals have the ability to quickly and accurately encode ensembles of objects, like leaves on a tree, and gather summary statistical information (like the mean and variance) from groups of stimuli.<ref name=":5">{{cite journal| vauthors = Alt NP, Goodale B, Lick DJ, Johnson KL |date= March 2019 |title=Threat in the Company of Men: Ensemble Perception and Threat Evaluations of Groups Varying in Sex Ratio|journal=Social Psychological and Personality Science|volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=152–159 |doi=10.1177/1948550617731498 |s2cid= 149407595 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Alvarez GA | title = Representing multiple objects as an ensemble enhances visual cognition | language = en-US | journal = Trends in Cognitive Sciences | volume = 15 | issue = 3 | pages = 122–31 | date = March 2011 | pmid = 21292539 | doi = 10.1016/j.tics.2011.01.003 | s2cid = 2752461 | url = https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/41364280 | url-access = subscription }}</ref> Some research suggests that this process provides rough visual information from the entire [[visual field]], giving way to a complete and accurate picture of the visual world.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Chong SC, Treisman A | title = Representation of statistical properties | journal = Vision Research | volume = 43 | issue = 4 | pages = 393–404 | date = February 2003 | pmid = 12535996 | doi = 10.1016/S0042-6989(02)00596-5 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Seeing the mean: ensemble coding fo">{{cite journal | vauthors = Haberman J, Whitney D | title = Seeing the mean: ensemble coding for sets of faces | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance | volume = 35 | issue = 3 | pages = 718–34 | date = June 2009 | pmid = 19485687 | pmc = 2696629 | doi = 10.1037/a0013899 }}</ref> Although the individual details of this accurate picture might be inaccessible, the 'gist' of the scene remains accessible.<ref name="Haberman_2012" /> Ensemble coding is an adaptive process that lightens the [[cognitive load]] in the processing and storing of visual representations through the use of [[heuristic]]s.<ref name="Seeing the mean: ensemble coding fo"/><ref name="Wolfe_2011">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Kw9pAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA339 |title=From Perception to Consciousness: Searching with Anne Treisman |last1=Wolfe |first1=Jeremy |last2=Robertson |first2=Lynn | name-list-style = vanc |date= December 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-990984-1|language=en}}</ref>

== Operational definition ==

David Whitney and Allison Yamanashi LiebLeib have developed an operational and flexible definition stating that ensemble coding should cover the following five concepts:<ref name="Whitney_2014">{{cite journal | vauthors = Whitney D, Yamanashi Leib A | title = Ensemble Perception | journal = Annual Review of Psychology | volume = 69 | issue = 1 | pages = 105–129 | date = January 2018 | pmid = 28892638 | doi = 10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044232 | s2cid = 39630841 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

* Ensemble perception is the ability to discriminate or reproduce a statistical moment.

Line 18 ⟶ 19:

=== Limited visual capacity ===

[[Vision science]] has noted that although humans take in large amounts of visual information, adults are only able to process, attend to, and retain up to roughly four items from the visual environment.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Alvarez GA, Cavanagh P | title = The capacity of visual short-term memory is set both by visual information load and by number of objects | language = en-US | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 15 | issue = 2 | pages = 106–11 | date = February 2004 | pmid = 14738517 | doi = 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.01502006.x | s2cid = 2286443 | url = http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41302706 | url-access = subscription }}</ref><ref name="Luck_1998">{{cite journal | vauthors = Luck SJ, Vogel EK | title = The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions | journal = Nature | volume = 390 | issue = 6657 | pages = 279–81 | date = November 1997 | pmid = 9384378 | doi = 10.1038/36846 | bibcode = 1997Natur.390..279L | s2cid = 205025290 }}</ref> Furthermore, scientists have found that this visual upper limit capacity exists across various phenomena including [[change blindness]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Regan |first1=J. Kevin |last2=Deubel |first2=Heiner |last3=Clark |first3=James J. |last4=Rensink |first4=Ronald A. | name-list-style = vanc |date=2000-01-01|title=Picture Changes During Blinks: Looking Without Seeing and Seeing Without Looking|journal=Visual Cognition|volume=7|issue=1–3|pages=191–211|doi=10.1080/135062800394766|s2cid=18034759 |issn=1350-6285}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Simons DJ, Chabris CF | s2cid = 1073781 | title = Gorillas in our midst: sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events | journal = Perception | volume = 28 | issue = 9 | pages = 1059–74 | date = 1999-09-01 | pmid = 10694957 | doi = 10.1068/p281059 }}</ref> object tracking,<ref name="Scholl_1999">{{cite journal | vauthors = Scholl BJ, Pylyshyn ZW | s2cid = 17447994 | title = Tracking multiple items through occlusion: clues to visual objecthood | journal = Cognitive Psychology | volume = 38 | issue = 2 | pages = 259–90 | date = March 1999 | pmid = 10090804 | doi = 10.1006/cogp.1998.0698 }}</ref> and feature representation.<ref name="Luck_1998"/>

=== Low resolution representations and limited capacity ===

Line 26 ⟶ 27:

Throughout its history, ensemble coding been known by many names. Interest in the theory began to emerge in the early 20th century.<ref name="Wolfe_2011" /> In its earliest years, ensemble coding was known as [[Gestalt grouping rules|Gestalt grouping]].<ref name="Wolfe_2011" /> In 1923, Max Wertheimer, a [[Gestalt psychology]] theorist, was addressing how humans perceive their visual world holistically rather than individually.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Wertheimer M | title = Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt. II. | trans-title = Investigations into the teaching of the form | language = German | journal = Psychological Research | date = January 1923 | volume = 4 | issue = 1 | pages = 301–50 | doi = 10.1007/BF00410640 | s2cid = 143510308 }}</ref> Gestaltists argued that in object perception, the individual object features were either lost or difficult to perceive and therefore the grouped object was the favored percept.<ref>Koffka, K. (1935). The Principles of Gestalt Psychology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.</ref> Although Gestaltists helped define some of the central principles of object perception, research into modern ensemble coding did not occur until many years later.{{cn|date=December 2019}}

In 1971, [[Norman H. Anderson (psychologist)|Norman Anderson]] was one of the earliest to conduct explicit ensemble coding research.<ref name="Haberman_2012" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Anderson|first=Norman H.|date=1971|title=Integration theory and attitude change.|journal=Psychological Review|language=en|volume=78|issue=3|pages=171–206|doi=10.1037/h0030834|issn=0033-295X}}</ref> Anderson's research into social ensemble coding showed that individuals described by two positive terms were rated more favorably than individuals described by two positive terms and two negative terms.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Anderson|first=Norman H.|date=1965|title=Averaging versus adding as a stimulus-combination rule in impression formation.|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology|language=en|volume=70|issue=4|pages=394–400|doi=10.1037/h0022280|pmid=5826027|issn=0022-1015}}</ref> This research on [[impression formation]] demonstrated that a weighted mean or average captures how information is integrated rather than the summation.<ref name=":0" /> Additional research during this time explored ensemble coding in group attractiveness,<ref>Anderson, N. H., Lindner, R., & Lopes, L. L. (1973). Integration Theory Applied to Judgments of Group Attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26(3), 400-408.</ref> shopping preferences,<ref>Levin, I. P. (1974). Averaging Processes in Ratings and Choices Based on Numerical Information. Memory & Cognition, 2(4), 786-790.</ref> and the perceived badness of criminals.<ref>Leon, M., Oden, G. C., & Anderson, N. H. (1973). Functional Measurement of Social Values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27(3), 301-310.</ref>

== The current era ==

Line 53 ⟶ 54:

Additional research has uncovered that in as little as 75 milliseconds, participants are able to derive the average sex ratio of an ensemble of faces.<ref name=":5" /> Furthermore, within that 75 milliseconds, participants were able to form impressions based on the perceived sex ratio and make inferences about the group's perceived threat.<ref name=":5" /> Specifically, this research found that groups were judged as more threatening as the ratio of men to women increased.<ref name=":5" />

In 2023, researchers found that people can accurately gauge the average trustworthiness of multiple faces presented together, even at very brief exposure times (as short as 250 ms). The findings suggest that our brains efficiently extract a summary statistic of facial features from crowds, enabling quick social judgments that may influence behavior.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dolan |first=Eric W. |date=2024-02-24 |title=Ensemble perception: Trust judgments of crowds of faces happen at the blink of an eye |url=https://www.psypost.org/ensemble-perception-trust-judgments-of-crowds-of-faces-happen-at-the-blink-of-an-eye/ |access-date=2024-02-29 |website=PsyPost - Psychology News |language=en-US}}</ref>

== References ==

Line 58 ⟶ 61:

[[Category:Cognitive psychology]]

[[Category:Grouping]]

[[Category:Perception]]