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Pattern recognition (psychology)

 

 
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Pattern recognition (psychology)
 
 
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Pattern recognition involves identification of faces, objects, words, melodies, etc. The visual system does more than just interpret forms, contours and colors. Pattern recognition refers to the process of recognizing a set of stimuli arranged in a certain pattern that is characteristic of that set of stimuli. Pattern recognition is an innate ability of animals.


incoming sensory information is compared directly to copies (templates) stored in the long term memory.






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Pattern recognition involves identification of faces, objects, words, melodies, etc. The visual system does more than just interpret forms, contours and colors. Pattern recognition refers to the process of recognizing a set of stimuli arranged in a certain pattern that is characteristic of that set of stimuli. Pattern recognition is an innate ability of animals.

Theories of pattern recognition

  • Template matching
  • Prototype matching
  • Feature analysis
  • Recognition by components
    Recognition by Components Theory

    The Recognition-by-components theory, or RBC theory1, was proposed by Irving Biederman to explain object recognition. According to RBC theory, we are able to recognize objects by separating them into Geon ....
  • Fourier analysis
  • Bottom-up and top-down processing
    Top-down and bottom-up design

    Top-down and bottom-up are strategy of information processing and knowledge ordering, mostly involving software, but also other humanistic and scientific theories ....


Template matching

The incoming sensory information is compared directly to copies (templates) stored in the long term memory. These copies are stored in the process of our past experiences and learning.

Eg. A A A are all recognized as the letter A but not B

Prototype matching

Prototype means a concept of average characteristics of a particular subject. It can be found throughout the world. For instance a concept of small animal with feathers, beak, two wings that can fly is a prototype concept of a crow, sparrow, hen, eagle, etc. Prototype matching unlike template matching does not emphasize a perfect match between the incoming stimuli and the stored concept in the brain.

Feature analysis

According to this theory, the sensory system
Sensory system

A sensory system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sense information. A sensory system consists of sensory receptors, neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved in sensory perception....
 breaks down the incoming stimuli into its features and processes the information. Some features may be more important for recognition than others. All stimuli have a set of distinctive features. Feature analysis proceeds through 4 stages.
  1. Detection
  2. Pattern dissection
  3. Feature comparison in memory
  4. Recognition


Recognition of components

Irving Biederman
Irving Biederman

Irving Biederman is an American vision scientist specializing in the study of brain processes underlying humans' ability to quickly recognize and interpret what they see....
 theorizes that every object is made up of geons
Geon (psychology)

Geons are simple 3-dimensional forms such as spheres, cubes, cylinders, cones or wedges. One often-cited theory of object recognition, Biederman's "Recognition by Components Theory" proposes that visual input is matched against structural representations of objects in the brain....
 - the building blocks of all objects (cylinders, cones, are combined in many ways (on top of, to the side, etc.).

Hierarchy of detectors:
  1. Feature detectors — lowest and highest; respond to curves, edges, etc.
  2. Geon detectors — activated by feature detectors
  3. Higher level detectors — recognize combinations of features and geons


According to Biederman an individual on average is familiar with about 30,000 objects and recognizing them requires no more than 36 geons.

See also

  • Gestalt psychology
    Gestalt psychology

    Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind and brain that proposes that the operational principle of the brain is holism, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies; or, that the whole is different from the sum of its parts....