Ori Amir

What does it mean to truly understand an image? Presumably, it entails constructing a model/ internal representation of the world, one that is inferred from prior knowledge and visual input, and is stable and robust to changes in viewing conditions. It is the nature of this representation that I research.

I am conducting fMRI, eye-tracking and behavioral studies to tap into the nature of our internal representation of objects, the mapping between visual representations and language, and the neural correlates of perceptual pleasure.

Publications

Amir, O., Biederman, I., & Hayworth, K. J. (2011). The neural basis for shape preferences. Vision Research, 1-9. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2011.08.015 [link]

Amir, O., Xu, X., & Biederman, I. (2011). The spontaneous appeal by naive subjects to nonaccidental properties when distinguishing among highly similar members of subspecies of birds closely resembles descriptions produced by experts. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of Vision Science Society, Naples, FL. [poster]

Amir, O., Wu, R., & Biederman, I. (2010). Adult shape preferences are evident in infancy. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of Vision Science Society, Naples, FL. [poster]

Amir, O., Hayworth, K.J., Biederman, I., Lescroart, M., & Kim, J.G. (2009). At what stage in the human ventral pathway is the greater sensitivity to nonaccidental over metric properties first aanifested? Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of Vision Science Society, Naples, FL. [poster]

Teaching a mini course vs. conventional discussion (APS 2010 Poster). [poster]

Stimuli

NAP vs. MP (Gabor scaled, 36 Shapes)

NAP vs. MP and View-Change (Gabor scaled, 48 Shapes)

1 part Rendered NAP vs MP from Kayaert et al. (2003)

1 part Silhouetted NAP vs MP from Kayaert et al. (2003)

Contact Information

Department of Psychology
University of Southern California
Image Understanding Lab HBN 316
3641 Watt Way
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2520
Phone:(213)293-8111
Email: oamir@usc.edu

This page was last updated on May, 2011