Navon figure

A Navon figure is made of a larger recognisable shape, such as a letter, composed of copies of a smaller different shape. Navon figures are used in tests of visual neglect.[1] David Navon's research demonstrated that global features are perceived more quickly than local features.[2] Jules Davidoff also performed research, but in a remote culture, finding opposite results; the participants more readily identified the local features.[3] Patients with Simultanagnosia have difficulty identifying global features, and when presented with a Navon figure will identify only the local features.[4] In a recent study comparing global-local processing in different races,[5] it was found that East Asians demonstrated significantly stronger global processing than Caucasians.

Example

A letter T (global) composed of letter S

 SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
 SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
 SS        SSSSS        SS
           SSSSS
           SSSSS
           SSSSS
           SSSSS
           SSSSS
           SSSSS
          SSSSSSS
       SSSSSSSSSSSSS

The Navon effect

Reading Navon figures has been found to affect a range of tasks. It has been shown that just 5 minutes reading out the small letters of Navon figures has a detrimental effect on face recognition.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Assessing Attention in Unilateral Neglect
  2. ↑ Navon, 1977 cited in (1)
  3. ↑ Davidoff, J.; E. Fonteneau; J. Fagot (Sep 2008). "Local and global processing: Observations from a remote culture". Cognition 108 (3): 702–709. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.06.004.
  4. ↑ Simultanagnosia, 2009
  5. ↑ McKone, E.; Davies, A.A.; Fernando, D.; Aalders, R.; Leung, H.; Wickramariyaratne, T.; Platow, M.J. (July 2010). "Asia has the global advantage: Race and visual attention.". Vision Research 50 (16): 1540–1549. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2010.05.010.
  6. ↑ Macrae, C. N., & Lewis, H. L. (2002). Do I know you? Processing orientation and face recognition. Psychological Science, 13(2), 194-196.