Natural scenes can be identified as rapidly as individual features

Abstract

Can observers determine the gist of a natural scene in a purely feedforward manner, or does this process require deliberation and feedback? Observers can recognise images that are presented for very brief periods of time before being masked. It is unclear whether this recognition process occurs in a purely feedforward manner or whether feedback from higher cortical areas to lower cortical areas is necessary. The current study revealed that the minimum presentation time required to identify or to determine the gist of a natural scene was no different from that required to determine the orientation or colour of an isolated line. Conversely, a visual task that would be expected to necessitate f..