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Structuralinformationtheory(SIT)isatheoryabouthuman
perceptionandinparticularaboutperceptualorganization.whichisthe
neurocognitiveprocessthatenablesustoperceivescenesasstructured
wholesconsistingofobjectsarrangedinspace..SITwasinitiated,inthe

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1960s,byEmanuelLeeuwenberg[1][2][3]andhasbeendevelopedfurtherby

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HansBuffart,PeterA.vanderHelm ,andRobvanLier .Ithasbeen

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appliedtoawiderangeofresearchtopics,[4]mostlyinvisualformperception

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butalsoin,forinstance,visualergonomics,datavisualization,andmusic

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perception.
SITbeganasaquantitativemodelofvisualpatternclassification.Nowadays,

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itincludesquantitativemodelsofsymmetryperceptionandamodal

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completion,andistheoreticallysustainedbyaperceptuallyadequate

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formalizationofvisualregularity,aquantitativeaccountofviewpoint

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dependencies,andapowerfulformofneurocomputation.[5]SIThasbeen

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arguedtobethebestdefinedandmostsuccessfulextensionofGestalt
ideas.[6]ItistheonlyGestaltapproachprovidingaformalcalculusthat

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generatesplausibleperceptualinterpretations.

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1Thesimplicityprinciple
2Structuralversusalgorithmicinformationtheory
3Simplicityversuslikelihood
4SITversusconnectionismanddynamicsystemstheory
5Modellingprinciples
6Visualregularity

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7Cognitivearchitecture

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8Seealso

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9References

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Thesimplicityprinciple

[edit]

Althoughvisualstimuliarefundamentallymultiinterpretable,thehuman
visualsystemusuallyhasaclearpreferenceforonlyoneinterpretation.To
explainthispreference,SITintroducedaformalcodingmodelstartingfrom
theassumptionthattheperceptuallypreferredinterpretationofastimulusis
theonewiththesimplestcode.Asimplestcodeisacodewithminimum
informationload,thatis,acodethatenablesareconstructionofthestimulus
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usingaminimumnumberofdescriptiveparameters.Suchacodeis
obtainedbycapturingamaximumamountofvisualregularityandyieldsa
hierarchicalorganizationofthestimulusintermsofwholesandparts.
Theassumptionthatthevisualsystempreferssimplestinterpretationsis
calledthesimplicityprinciple.[7]Historically,thesimplicityprincipleisan
informationtheoreticaltranslationoftheGestaltlawofPrgnanz,[8]which
wasbasedonthenaturaltendencyofphysicalsystemstosettleintostable
minimumenergystates.Furthermore,justasthelaterproposedminimum
descriptionlengthprincipleinalgorithmicinformationtheory(AIT),a.k.a.the
theoryofKolmogorovcomplexity,itcanbeseenasaformalization
ofOccam'sRazorinwhichthebesthypothesisforagivensetofdataisthe
onethatleadstothelargestcompressionofthedata.

Structuralversusalgorithmicinformationtheory
[edit]

Sincethe1960s,SIT(inpsychology)andAIT(incomputerscience)evolved
independentlyasviablealternativesforShannon'sclassicalinformation
theorywhichhadbeendevelopedincommunicationtheory.[9]InShannon's
approach,thingsareassignedcodeswithlengthsbasedontheirprobability
intermsoffrequenciesofoccurrence(as,e.g.,intheMorsecode).Inmany
domains,includingperception,suchprobabilitiesarehardlyquantifiableifat
all,however.BothSITandAITcircumventthisproblembyturningto
descriptivecomplexitiesofindividualthings.
AlthoughSITandAITsharemanystartingpointsandobjectives,thereare
alsoseveralrelevantdifferences:
First,SITmakestheperceptuallyrelevantdistinctionbetweenstructural
andmetricalinformation,whereasAITdoesnot
Second,SITencodesforarestrictedsetofperceptuallyrelevantkindsof
regularities,whereasAITencodesforanyimaginableregularity
Third,inSIT,therelevantoutcomeofanencodingisahierarchical
organization,whereasinAIT,itisonlyacomplexityvalue.

Simplicityversuslikelihood

[edit]

Invisualperceptionresearch,thesimplicityprinciplecontrastswith
theHelmholtzianlikelihoodprinciple,[10]whichassumesthatthepreferred
interpretationofastimulusistheonemostlikelytobetrueinthisworld.As
shownwithinaBayesianframeworkandusingAITfindings,thesimplicity
principlewouldimplythatperceptualinterpretationsarefairlyveridical(i.e.,
truthful)inmanyworldsratherthan,asassumedbythelikelihoodprinciple,
highlyveridicalinonlyoneworld.[11]Inotherwords,whereasthelikelihood
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principlesuggeststhatthevisualsystemisaspecialpurposesystem(i.e.,
adaptedtoonespecificworld),thesimplicityprinciplesuggeststhatitisa
generalpurposesystem(i.e.,adaptivetomanydifferentworlds).
Crucialtothelatterfindingisthedistinctionbetween,andintegrationof,
viewpointindependentandviewpointdependentfactorsinvision,as
proposedinSIT'sempiricallysuccessfulmodelofamodalcompletion.[12]In
theBayesianframework,thesefactorscorrespondtopriorprobabilitiesand
conditionalprobabilities,respectively.InSIT'smodel,however,bothfactors
arequantifiedintermsofcomplexities,thatis,complexitiesofobjectsand
spatialrelationships,respectively.Thisapproachisconsistent
withneuroscientificideasaboutthedistinctionandinteractionbetweenthe
ventral("what")anddorsal("where")streamsinthebrain.[13]

SITversusconnectionismanddynamicsystems
theory [edit]
Ontheonehand,arepresentationaltheorylikeSITseemsopposite
todynamicsystemstheory(DST).Ontheotherhand,connectionismcanbe
seenassomethinginbetween,thatis,itflirtswithDSTwhenitcomestothe
usageofdifferentialequationsanditflirtswiththeorieslikeSITwhenit
comestotherepresentationofinformation.Infact,theanalysesprovidedby
SIT,connectionism,andDST,correspondtowhatMarrcalledthe
computational,thealgorithmic,andtheimplementationallevelsof
description,respectively.AccordingtoMarr,suchanalysesare
complementaryratherthanopposite.
WhatSIT,connectionism,andDSThaveincommonisthattheydescribe
nonlinearsystembehavior,thatis,aminorchangeintheinputmayyielda
majorchangeintheoutput.Theircomplementarityexpressesitselfinthat
theyfocusondifferentaspects:
First,DSTfocusesprimarilyonhowthestateofaphysicalsystemasa
whole(inthiscase,thebrain)developsovertime,whereasbothSITand
connectionismfocusprimarilyonwhatasystemdoesintermsof
informationprocessing(which,inthiscase,canbesaidto
constitutecognition).
Second,accordingtobothSITandconnectionism,thisinformation
processingreliesoninteractionsbetweenpiecesofinformationin
distributedrepresentations,thatis,innetworksofconnectedpiecesof
information.Inthisrespect,however,connectionismfocusesonconcrete
interactionmechanisms(i.c.,activationspreading)inaprefixednetwork
thatisassumedtobesuitedforanyinput,whereasSITfocusesonthe
natureoftheoutcomeoftheinteractionswhichareassumedtotake
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placeintransient,inputdependent,networks.

Modellingprinciples

[edit]

InSIT,candidateinterpretationsofastimulusarerepresentedbysymbol
strings,inwhichidenticalsymbolsrefertoidenticalperceptualprimitives
(e.g.,blobsoredges).Everysubstringofsuchastringrepresentsaspatially
contiguouspartofaninterpretation,sothattheentirestringcanbereadas
areconstructionrecipefortheinterpretationand,thereby,forthestimulus.
Thesestringsthenareencoded(i.e.,theyaresearchedforvisual
regularities)tofindtheinterpretationwiththesimplestcode.
InSIT'sformalcodingmodel,thisencodingismodelledbywayofsymbol
manipulation.Inpsychology,thishasledtocriticalstatementsofthesortof
"SITassumesthatthebrainperformssymbolmanipulation".Such
statements,however,fallinthesamecategoryasstatementssuchas
"physicsassumesthatnatureappliesformulassuch
asEinstein'sE=mc2orNewton'sF=ma"and"DSTmodelsassumethat
dynamicsystemsapplydifferentialequations".Thatis,thesestatements
ignorethattheveryconceptofformalizationmeansthatpotentiallyrelevant
thingsarerepresentedbysymbolsnotasagoalinitselfbutasameansto
capturepotentiallyrelevantrelationshipsbetweenthesethings.

Visualregularity

[edit]

Toobtainsimplestcodes,SITappliescodingrulesthatcapturethekindsof
regularitycallediteration,symmetry,andalternation.Thesehavebeen
showntobetheonlyregularitiesthatsatisfytheformalaccessibilitycriteria
of
(a)beingsocalledholographicregularitiesthat
(b)allowforsocalledhierarchicallytransparentcodes.[14]
Acrucialdifferencewithrespecttothetraditional,socalledtransformational,
formalizationofvisualregularityisthat,holographically,mirrorsymmetryis
composedofmanyrelationshipsbetweensymmetrypairsratherthanone
relationshipbetweensymmetryhalves.Whereasthetransformational
characterizationmaybebettersuitedforobjectrecognition,theholographic
characterizationseemsmoreconsistentwiththebuildupofmental
representationsinobjectperception.
Theperceptualrelevanceofthecriteriaofholographyandtransparencyhas
beenverifiedinthesocalledholographicapproachtovisual
regularity.[15]Thisapproachprovidesanempiricallysuccessfulmodelofthe
detectabilityofsingleandcombinedvisualregularities,whetherornot
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perturbedbynoise.

Cognitivearchitecture

[edit]

Thetransparentholographicregularitieshavebeenshowntolend
themselvesfortransparallelprocessing.Thismeansthat,intheprocessof
selectingasimplestcodefromamongallpossiblecodes,O(2N)codescan
betakenintoaccountasifonlyonecodeoflengthNwere
concerned.[16]Thissupportsthecomputationaltractabilityofsimplestcodes
and,thereby,thefeasibilityofthesimplicityprincipleinperceptual
organization.
Toenabletransparallelprocessing,SIT'sformalmodelgatherscandidate
codes(ofonlytheinputathand)inspecialdistributedrepresentationscalled
hyperstrings(aformoffeaturebinding).Thesehyperstringscanbeseenas
formalcounterpartsoftransientneuralassemblieswhichsignaltheir
presencebyfiringsynchronizationoftheneuronsinvolved.Thisgivesriseto
aconcretepictureofflexiblecognitivearchitectureimplementedinthe
relativelyrigidneuralarchitectureofthebrain.Thatis,thesetemporarily
synchronizedassembliescanbecalled"gnosons"(i.e.,fundamental
particlesofcognition)whosesynchronizationmightwellbeamanifestation
oftransparallelfeatureprocessing.[17]

Seealso

[edit]

Neuralprocessingforindividualcategoriesofobjects
Principlesofgrouping
Theoryofindispensableattributes
Simplicitytheory

References

[edit]

1. ^Leeuwenberg,E.L.J.(1968).Structuralinformationofvisualpatterns:an
efficientcodingsysteminperception.TheHague:Mouton.
2. ^Leeuwenberg,E.L.J.(1969).Quantitativespecificationofinformationin
sequentialpatterns.PsychologicalReview,76,216220.
3. ^Leeuwenberg,E.L.J.(1971).Aperceptualcodinglanguageforvisualand
auditorypatterns.AmericanJournalofPsychology,84,307349.
4. ^Leeuwenberg,E.L.J.&vanderHelm,P.A.(2013).Structuralinformation
theory:Thesimplicityofvisualform.Cambridge,UK:CambridgeUniversity
Press.
5. ^vanderHelm,P.A.(2014).Simplicityinvision:Amultidisciplinaryaccount
ofperceptualorganization.Cambridge,UK:CambridgeUniversityPress.
6. ^Palmer,S.E.(1999).Visionscience:Photonsto
phenomenology.Cambridge,MA:MITPress.
7. ^Hochberg,J.E.,&McAlister,E.(1953).Aquantitativeapproachtofigural
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"goodness".JournalofExperimentalPsychology,46,361364.
8. ^Koffka,K.(1935).Principlesofgestaltpsychology.London:Routledge&
KeganPaul.
9. ^Shannon,C.E.(1948).Amathematicaltheoryofcommunication.Bell
SystemTechnicalJournal,27,379423,623656.
10. ^vonHelmholtz,H.L.F.(1962).TreatiseonPhysiologicalOptics(J.P.C.
Southall,Trans.).NewYork:Dover.(Originalworkpublished1909)
11. ^vanderHelm,P.A.(2000).Simplicityversuslikelihoodinvisualperception:
Fromsurprisalstoprecisals.PsychologicalBulletin,126,770800.
12. ^vanLier,R.J.,vanderHelm,P.A.,&Leeuwenberg,E.L.J.(1994).
Integratingglobalandlocalaspectsofvisualocclusion.Perception,23,883
903.
13. ^Ungerleider,L.G.,&Mishkin,M.(1982).Twocorticalvisualsystems.InD.
J.Ingle,M.A.Goodale,&R.J.W.Mansfield(Eds.),AnalysisofVisual
Behavior(pp.549586).Cambridge,MA:MITPress.
14. ^vanderHelm,P.A.,&Leeuwenberg,E.L.J.(1991).Accessibility,a
criterionforregularityandhierarchyinvisualpatterncodes.Journalof
MathematicalPsychology,35,151213.
15. ^vanderHelm,P.A.,&Leeuwenberg,E.L.J.(1996).Goodnessofvisual
regularities:Anontransformationalapproach.PsychologicalReview,103,429
456.
16. ^vanderHelm,P.A.(2004).Transparallelprocessingby
hyperstrings. ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciencesUSA,101
(30),1086210867.
17. ^vanderHelm,P.A.(2012).Cognitivearchitectureofperceptual
organization:Fromneuronstognosons. CognitiveProcessing,13,1340.

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