Ensemble coding: Difference between revisions

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'''Ensemble coding''', also known as '''ensemble perception''' or '''summary representation''', is the ability to see the average or variance of a group of objects. There is extensive amounts of information 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 to <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 |last=Haberman |first=Jason |last2=Whitney |first2=David| name-list-format = vanc | chapter = Ensemble Perception |date = May 2012 | chapter-url = http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199734337.001.0001/acprof-9780199734337-chapter-30 | 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|access-date=2019-12-09}}</ref>. It has been demonstrated that individuals have the ability 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>{{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 }}</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 | url = https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/41364280 }}</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 | url = https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0042698902005965 }}</ref><ref>{{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|heuristics]] <ref>{{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><ref name="Wolfe_2011">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/?id=Kw9pAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA339&dq=haberman+#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=From Perception to Consciousness: Searching with Anne Treisman |last=Wolfe |first=Jeremy |last2=Robertson |first2=Lynn | name-list-format = vanc |date= December 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-990984-1|language=en}}</ref>.

== Operational Definition ==

David Whitney and Allison Yamanashi Lieb have developed an operational and flexible definition stating that, “...ensemble coding should include the following five concepts:

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301-310.</ref>.

== The Current era ==

Seminal findings by [[Dan Ariely]] in 2001 were the first data to support the modern theories of ensemble coding. Ariely used novel experimental paradigms he labeled "mean discrimination" and "member identification" to examine how sets of objects are perceived. He conducted three studies involving shape ensembles that varied in size. Across all studies participants were able to accurately encode the mean size of the ensemble, but they were inaccurate when asked if a certain circle was a part of the set. Ariely's findings were the first that found statistical summary information emerge in the visual perception of grouped objects <ref name="Ariely_2001">{{cite journal | vauthors = Ariely D | title = Seeing sets: representation by statistical properties | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 12 | issue = 2 | pages = 157–62 | date = March 2001 | pmid = 11340926 | doi = 10.1111/1467-9280.00327 | url = https://semanticscholar.org/paper/5494c4ca523c5ef1999941e27c5248cea907c7af | jstor = 40063604 }}</ref>.

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[[High- and low-level|High-level]] ensemble coding extends to more complex, higher level objects including faces <ref name="Whitney_2014" /><ref name="Haberman_2012" />.

== Social Vision and Ensemble Coding ==

Based on the early work of Anderson <ref name=":1" />, it appears that humans integrate semantic as well as social information using ensemble coding. These findings suggest, that social processes may hinge on the same sort of underlying mechanisms that allow people to perceive average object orientation <ref name="Dakin_1997" />, direction of motion <ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name="Haberman_2012" />.