Welcome to the
Perception Laboratory
@ Hobart & William Smith Colleges
Principal Investigator:
Daniel
J. Graham
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
Gulick Hall
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Geneva, NY 14456 USA
Email: artstats at gmail d0t com -or- mylastname@hws.edu
ÒThe best thing
that we're put here for's to see.Ó - Robert Frost (from The Star-Splitter)
á
Research
Summary
This laboratory
studies perceptual processing in humans from a variety of perspectives, focusing
on natural vision. Much of the work focuses on aspects of visual perception
that are instantiated in artwork, and in artists themselves. Artwork forms a
useful and interesting class of natural stimuli, one created exclusively for
the human eye, and only by humans. Research employs computational and
behavioral experimental methods in order to help elucidate the nature of neural
processing in the visual system and more generally in mammalian brains.
Research
questions include:
o How does human
aesthetic sense develop, and how is it affected by mental disorders such as
AlzheimerÕs disease?
o How do artists
judge size, color, and light intensity in the world so that they can represent
these quantities on canvas?
o Do human artists
produce representations that are efficiently processed by the visual system,
and if so, what can this tell us about neural processing in humans?
o How do mental
illnesses such as schizophrenia affect visual representations in artwork?
o What visual
attributes and statistical properties constitute artistic style, and can style
be modeled computationally?
o What can we
learn about cortical processing from network theoretic principles of dynamic
routing?
á
Teaching
á In Fall, I typically teach PSY 100: Introduction to Psychology and
PSY 309: Topics in Sensory Perception (Focus on Art and Human Vision). In Spring, I typically teach Sensation and Perception (PSY 299)
and Research in Sensory Perception (PSY 310).
á
We are always
looking for motivated students to work in the lab! Contact Prof. Graham if you
are interested in an RA opportunity, independent study, or summer science.
á
Colorblindness in the
Classroom
á
For students with colorblindness, and for the faculty who teach them,
I have developed an online resource linked here:
Colorblindness in the
Classroom
The
resource includes:
o
An introduction to the
neuroscience of colorblindness
o
Practical tips for
instructors on using visual learning tools in a way that helps students with
colorblindness succeed
o
Advice for students
with colorblindness
á
Publications (click paper title for pdf) **indicates HWS student co-author
2017
Graham,
D. J., (in press). Building brains that communicate like machines. Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Pugach, C.** Leder, H. and Graham,
D. J. 2017. How
stable are human aesthetic preferences across the lifespan?. Frontiers
in Human Neuroscience 11:289. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00289.
2016
Graham,
D. J., Schwarz, B.,
Chatterjee, A. and Leder, H. 2016. Preference
for luminance histogram regularities in natural scenes Vision Research, 120, 11-21. Supplemental
Data
2014
Pugach, C.,** Daley, E.**,
Leder, H. and Graham. D. J. 2014. Aesthetic stability in development.
In: Proceedings of the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics
Biennial Congress 2014, New York, NY. ISBN: 0-692-29396-5.
Graham,
D. J. 2014. Routing
in the brain. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience 8:44.
Graham,
D. J., Pallett, P. M.,
Meng, M. and Leder, H. 2014. Representation and aesthetics of the human face in portraiture.
Art
& Perception, 2(1-2), 75-98.
2013
Graham, D. J.
2013. Integrating
holism and reductionism in the science of art perception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(2), 145-146.
Graham,
D. J., Stockinger, S.
and Leder, H. 2013 An
island of stability: art images and natural scenes—but not natural
faces—show consistent aesthetic response in AlzheimerÕs-related dementia. Frontiers in Psychology 4:107.
2011
Graham,
D. J. 2011. Visual Perception: Lightness in a High Dynamic Range World.
Current
Biology 21(22), R914-R916.
Graham, D.
J. and Rockmore, D. N. 2011. The
packet switching brain. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23 (2), 267-276.
Graham,
D. J. and Meng, M. 2011. Artistic
representations: clues to efficient coding in human vision. Visual
Neuroscience 28, 371-379 [Special
Issue on
comparative, ecological and
developmental aspects of visual system design and function]
Graham,
D. J. and Meng, M. 2011. Altered spatial
frequency content in paintings by artists with schizophrenia. i-Perception 2 (1),
1-9.
Graham, D.
J., Hughes, J. M., Leder, H. and
Rockmore, D. N. 2011. Statistics, vision, and the analysis of artistic style. WIREs Comput. Stat. (Wiley Interdisciplinary
Reviews-Computational Statistics) 4, 115–123. doi: 10.1002/wics.197.
Hughes, J. M., Graham,
D. J., Jacobsen, C. R. and Rockmore, D. N. 2011. Comparing higher-order spatial statistics and perceptual
judgments in the stylometric analysis of art. Proceedings of EUSIPCO 2011 (19th
European Signal Processing Conference), Barcelona, ESP.
2010
Graham, D.
J. and Redies, C. 2010 Statistical
regularities in art: Relations with visual coding and perception. Vision
Research 50 (16) 1503-1509.
Hughes, J. M., Graham,
D. J. and Rockmore, D. N. Quantification of
artistic style through sparse coding analysis in the drawings of Pieter Bruegel
the Elder. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107,
1279-1283.
MEDIA COVERAGE OF PNAS PAPER: Nature,
NPR,
BBC, Science
News, IEEE
Spectrum, Ars Technica, Physics
World, NH Union
Leader, Valley News,
The Dartmouth, Press Release
Graham, D.
J., Friedenberg, J. D., Rockmore, D. N.
and Field, D. J. 2010. Mapping the similarity
space of paintings: image statistics and visual perception. Visual
Cognition 18 (4), 559-573.
Graham, D.
J., Friedenberg, J. D., McCandless, C. H.
and Rockmore, D. N. 2010. Preference for artwork:
Similarity, statistics, and selling price. Proc. SPIE: Human Vision and
Electronic Imaging 7527,
75271A.
Hughes, J. M., Graham,
D. J. and Rockmore, D. N. 2010. Stylometrics
of artwork: Uses and limitations. Proc. SPIE: Computer Vision and Image
Analysis of Art 7531, 75310C.
2009
Graham,
D. J. 2009. Art
statistics and visual processing: Insights for Picture Coding. Proceedings of the Picture Coding Symposium 2009, Chicago, IL.
Graham, D.
J., Friedenberg, J. D. and Rockmore, D.
N. 2009. Efficient
visual system processing of spatial and luminance
statistics in representational and non-representational art. Proc.
SPIE: Human Vision and Electronic Imaging 7240, 72401N.
2008
Graham, D.
J. and Field, D. J. 2008. Global
nonlinear luminance compression in painted art.
Proc.
SPIE: Computer Image Analysis in the Study of Art 6810, 68100K.
Graham, D.
J. and Field, D. J. 2008. Variations
in intensity statistics for representational and abstract art, and for art from
the eastern and western hemispheres. Perception
37, 1341-1352.
Graham, D.
J. and Field, D. J. 2008. Natural images:
coding efficiency. In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience ed. Larry R. Squire. Academic Press,
Oxford.
2004
- 2007
Graham, D.
J. and Field, D. J. 2007. Statistical
regularities of art images and natural scenes: Spectra, sparseness and nonlinearities.
Spatial
Vision 21, 149-164.
Graham, D.
J., Chandler, D. M. and Field, D. J.
2006. Can
the theory of "whitening" explain the center-surround properties of
retinal ganglion cell receptive fields? Vision Research 46,
2901-2913.
Graham, D.
J. and Field, D. J. 2006. Sparse
coding in the neocortex. In Evolution of Nervous Systems ed. Jon
H. Kaas and Leah A. Krubitzer. Elsevier, Vol. III, pp. 181-187.
Cuesta-Lopez, S., Peyrard, M.
and Graham, D. J. 2005. Model for DNA
hairpin denaturation. European Physical Journal E-Soft
Matter 16, 235-246.
á
Theses
Graham, D.
J. 2008. The relationship
between efficient coding of natural scenes in the human visual system and
statistical regularities in art. Doctoral
Thesis, Department of Psychology, Cornell University.
Graham, D.
J. 2004. Efficient
retinal ganglion cell coding and the statistics of natural scenes. Master's Thesis, Department of Physics, Cornell
University.
á
Book Reviews
Graham, D. J. 2012 EvolutionÕs
Witness. Perception 41, 755-756.
Graham, D.
J. 2012 The Evolution of the Eye from Algae and Jellyfish to Humans. Perception 41, 626-627.
Graham, D.
J. 2004. In the Blink of an Eye. American Paleontologist 12, 13-17.
á
Selected Conference Abstracts
Teceno, D.** and
Graham, D. J. (2017, May) Aesthetic stability in non-elderly adults with brain
injury: A pilot study. Association for Psychological Science,
Boston, MA.
Prescott,
N.** and Graham, D. J. (2017, March) The visual
neuroscience of masks. Eastern Psychological Association,
Boston, MA.
Graham,
D. J., Schwarz, B., Chatterjee, A., and Leder, H. (2013, May). Preference for higher-order luminance regularities in natural
scenes. Vision
Sciences Society, Naples, FL.
Graham, D. J.
and Meng, M. (2011, May). Lightness perception in artists.
Vision Sciences Society 2011, Naples, FL.
Graham, D. J.,
Friedenberg, J. D. and Rockmore, D. N. (2009, August) Mathematics,
Perception, and the Visual Arts: New Perspectives, talk at MathPsych 2009 (Society for Mathematical Psychology).
Graham, D. J.,
Friedenberg, J. D., Rockmore, D. N. and Field, D. J. (2008, August) Mapping the similarity
space of paintings: Is there a role for image statistics? ECVP 2008 Utrecht, NL.
Graham,
D. J. and Field, D. J. (2008, January) Global nonlinear compression of natural
luminances in painted art. SPIE Electronic Imaging Conference on Computer Image Analysis in
the Study of Art, San Jose CA.
Cutting, J. E.,
Graham, D. J. and Field, D. J. (2008, March) From a
neuroesthetics to a neuroarthistory. Annual Conference of the College
Art Association, Dallas TX.
Graham, D. J.,
Page, K. B. and Field, D. J. (2006, August) Relating
nonlinearities to statistical regularities in paintings. Perception 35 supplement for ECVP.
Graham, D. J.
Chandler, D. M. and Field, D. J. (2005, August) How alike are natural
scenes and paintings? Characterizing the spatial statistical properties of a
set of digitized, grey-scale images of painted art. Perception 34 supplement for ECVP.
Graham, D. J.,
Chandler, D. M. and Field, D. J. 2004. Decorrelation and response
equalization with center-surround receptive fields. Journal of Vision 4, 276a.
á
Invited Talks
Introduction to
Visual Stylometry: A Neuroscientific
Perspective, WAIVS (Workflows
for Analysis of Images in Visual Stylometry), Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg MA USA,
May, 2017.
Face
Representation in Portraiture and Masks, Eastern
American Society for Aesthetics Annual Meeting, April 2016.
The Packet
Switching Brain: A Hypothesis, Redwood
Neuroscience Institute Seminar, University of California, Berkeley, Nov 2009. VIDEO.
The Efficient Artist:
Statistical Regularities in Art and Their Relationships with Visual Coding, Oxyopia Lecture Series, University
of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry, Nov 2009. VIDEO.
Art
and Efficient Visual Representation, Colloquium Speaker, Department of Mathematics, Middlebury College, Sept 2009.
Invited
Panelist, Special Session on Visual Attention, Artistic Intent
and Efficient Coding, Picture Coding Symposium, Chicago, IL,
May 2009.
Stylometric
analysis of Van Gogh using methods inspired by early visual system neural
coding. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam,
Netherlands, Oct 2008. (part of IP4AI)
Statistical
Regularities in Paintings: Connections to Visual Coding and Perception, Friedrich-Schiller-University,
Jena, Germany, Sept 2008.
Relationships
Between Human Visual Coding and Painted Art, Applied and Computational
Mathematics Seminar, Dartmouth College, Feb 2008.
The Illuminated
World: Art and the Visual System, Art for Lunch, Herbert
F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, April 2007.
á
Support and Awards
2008-2009: William H. Neukom 1964 Institute for
Computational Science
2008-2010: National Science Foundation Small Grant for
Exploratory Research DMS-0746667
2007: ProvostÕs Diversity Fellowship, Cornell University
2004-2007: National Institutes of Health Kirschstein-NRSA
Traineeship (Individual) EY015393
2002: NSF Locnet Fellowship, Ecole Normale Superieure, Lyon,
France
2001-2004: NSF IGERT Program in Nonlinear Dynamics
Fellowship, Cornell University
á
Writing for Non-scientists
|
á
Links
Noah Graham (my
brother) studies quantum mechanics and teaches physics at my alma mater,
Middlebury College.
Updated 31 May 2017