1) Provide a brief summary of what you learned about camouflage based on your readings (include Julez's article as well) and internet explorations.
2) Discuss what you learned about camouflage from the Dr. Behrens' talk
3) What question did you ask him or would have asked him if there was time?
4) Why do you think camouflage is an important area of study for sensation & perception?
1. The Gestalt theory emphasizes that we perceive objects as well organized wholes rather than separate parts. Gestalt theory goes along with camouflage because we view things as parts. In the similarity type of camouflage, the figure and the ground surrounding it is view as a whole, not two separate parts because they blend together. A few “laws” to camouflage was found on a website. The law of proximity says that animals who want to hide must position themselves so that parts of the body are grouped together with its surroundings because objects that are close to one another are often seen as a coherent whole. The law of similarity says that when objects are similar to one another, they are often perceived to be part of a pattern.
2. I really enjoyed Sr. Behren’s talk; I like how he incorporated camouflage, magic, and graphic design. He said that there are three types of camouflage: high similarity where there is figure ground blending; high difference where there is figure disruption; and coincident disruption that uses blending and dazzle type. Camouflage started with Gestalt theory also known as design. The Gestalt theory is the basis on which things are grouped or clustered as attributable to their being similar. An example of camouflage that he used was color blind tests; if someone is color blind then the image for the test will all look the same so the number 74 would be camouflaged with the background.
3. Does camouflage work at all with those people that are color blind?
How do you think that animals became aware of using camouflage as a protective measure?
What’s the physiology behind why we can’t see a difference between a figure and the ground?
4. I think camouflage is an important part of sensation and perception because something is happening with our visual system that makes us not be able to see a difference between the figure and the ground that surrounds it. Also, our brain is making something that is separate parts into something that is whole based on similarities, proximity and continuity.
1) Camouflage is a method of concealment and obscurity. Camouflage attempts to trick the observers visual systems into misreading the stimuli presented. There are many forms of camouflage including: mimicry, dazzle, and figure ground blending. Figure ground blending and mimicry are based on the theory of high similarity, while dazzle camouflage is based on high differences.
Gestalt theory also relates to camouflage. Gestalt theory believes that we take in stimuli through our visual system, and then process the image as a whole instead of the individual pieces that make up objects. Gestalt psychologists have developed many rules which they believe we group our perceptions of objects according to. The rule of proximity is one rule of Gestalt theory. This suggests that objects which are close to each other are grouped together as a whole when we perceive them, even if the objects are different. Another rule is the rule of similarity. Objects that are perceived to have identical or similar characteristics are viewed as a whole. This can include the object’s shape, color, or any other distinguishing characteristic. Another rule is that of the rule of closure. This is often paired with the rule of figure-ground for effect. This is evident in many company logos that use multiple letters or figures to create a memorable seal. The rule of simplicity states that objects are most memorable and easy to perceive if they are simple, and not busy with cluster of many different stimuli. A rule I read about that embodies this rule is K.I.S.S. This stands for keep it simple stupid. The rule of repetition is also recognized in Gestalt theory. This rule believes that repetition of stimuli makes us remember the stimuli more clearly.
2) I though Dr. Behren’s presentation was very interesting in class today. He was very eccentric and passionate about the topic of camouflage. He described his belief that camouflage is a little bit like magic. Something is happening right in front of us, yet we cannot detect it much as a slight of hand trick works in magic acts. Dr. Behren’s discussed how our brain makes grouping errors when it is taking in stimuli. If we hastily look at a photo, our minds can be tricked into perceiving things that are not possible such as a cactus coming out of the Lone Ranger’s head that was shown during the presentation, or the Acme rooms. Depending on how objects are placed in photographs, we can misperceive size and location. I especially enjoyed the photographs students have taken that were shown as examples of our mind being tricked such as the man flicking the bike rider and hand holding the mouse on the billboard. These are interesting to look at, and fun to see how our mind focuses on certain cues to judge size, and distance.
3) What is an example of camouflage in the natural world that you find the most interesting, for example you mentioned owls blending in as bark etc..? Why do you think our brains are so easily deceived by camouflage attempts? Do you think you enjoyed ventriloquism because it’s deception of stimuli much like the basis of camouflage? How do you think the 2 are related?
4) I believe a point Dr. Behren made in his presentation today describes the importance of camouflage very well. The best way to understand how our visual system works is to discover how and why we are able to trick it. He believes the best way to understand how we see things is to see what we can do to make us NOT see stimuli in front of us. This provides insight into how our brain breaks down stimuli, and how the amazing process unit we have functions. If we can discover how our brain organizes information so efficiently and quickly we can transfer this information into technology and inventions to help optimize our brain’s functioning. Camouflage gives us insight into how our brains function, and perceive information.
1. I learned that camouflage and the gestalt theory are related. I never really thought about camouflage in such depth before in how it can be used in so many different ways. When I looked through my text about Gestalt I found a section that related to camouflage in that Gestalt looked at things in parts and then as a whole. The text refers to structuralism, a number of sensations that add up to create what we see. Then it gives the example of an image of a ladies face. From a distance it just looks like a face when you look closely its made up a bunch of small dots. The text also describes illusory contours. You may see them that represent the edges. They are illusory because they aren’t really there.
2. I really liked listening to Sr. Behren discuss how camouflage could relate to different aspects of art. I really like art and have taken some classes but have never really related it to art or the Gestalt theory. The main points he covered where the three main types of camouflage; figure ground blending, figure disruption or dazzle, and coincident disruption blending and dazzle. He also covered how camouflage can be related to magic. He gave the example of the severed thumb trick. He then talked about mosaics and how grouping can camouflage objects. Something I found very interesting was how he related it to rhyme and poetry. He gave the example of the King James Bible being written in a manner that has a rhythm. Lastly he covered the grid system. I had learned about the grid system in the past but never considered it as a way to camouflage things just a way to align and create depth.
3. When Sr. Behren was finished with his lecture I didn’t really have any questions for him. I did think about some of his examples such as the King James Bible being written in a manner of rhythm and how grids could be used to hide aspects in an image.
4. I think camouflage is an important aspect because it has many different forms and contexts where it can be used. I think its interesting that camouflage can be related to rhyme and grids. Not only is camouflage studied in sensation and perception but in art as well.
1) Camouflage is a way to blend into the background and many times is used as a defense mechanism. Dazzle camouflage was used on ships and army uniforms. This is when the pattern is disruptive and broken apart. The most interesting type of camouflage I learned about was the camouflage that occurs in nature. Many animals use camouflage as protection from predators. Some animals have what is called countershading which helps them to not be seen as easily. Other animals, like the shape-shifting octopus, can actually change it's appearance to blend in with it's surroundings. I also learned that camouflage is helpful in learning how we see.
2)Dr. Behrens talked about camouflage, magic, and graphic design. I remember him saying that the brain wants to make meaning of everything we see. Because of this we use grouping of similar objects. We can also make grouping errors which is how camouflage tricks us. Something that stuck out to me is the Ames distorted rooms. I've seen examples of them before but I thought it was really cool that he actually had a hand in making one. I also liked the students' pictures he showed. When talking about graphic design, I found it very interesting that all of the designs have an underlying grid system. I have never realized that before. He also talked about reoccurring themes within a piece of work. I have taken some art classes and knew about that already but I liked that he pointed out specific examples in well known art.
3) I didn't ask any questions but after thinking about it, I would need to take an entire class to ask all of the questions I have. Most of them are about design. I draw and I am very interested in interior design. I want to know if there are specific lines that are appealing to the human eye. I also would like to know if there are certain rules for setting up a design. I like to create things without many rules but I want to know how to improve on my ideas.
4)I think camouflage is important in sensation and perception because it lets us know that things are not how we perceive them and we can be fooled. It's important to realize that this happens every day. It's important to know that camouflage does not have to be created but happens naturally.
1. Camouflage is a useful tool, it is used to conceal something. Many times it is used for defense, but it is also often used offensively. It is almost like hiding in plain sight.
Our eye tends to group objects together, to help it understand the picture before it. Thus, if we look at a grouping of trees, we often do not see the trees individually. Often times, we see the trees in groups and our brain tells us this is a forest. Camouflage takes advantage of this assumption made by the brain. By "blending" in with the trees, animals, humans, and various sorts of insects can remain undetected. This lack of detection is very helpful in a war setting. Obviously, one would desire to remain hidden from the enemy. Early in the 20th century, armies found it behooving to switch from bright colored uniforms, to ones that would mesh with the environment they were in. Thus was the birthing of synthetic camouflage.
2. Sr. Behren's talk was informative, I think it was his quirky personality that helped make it interesting however. It was hard not to laugh at the site of him cracking up to one of his own jokes, this kept it engaging and kind of re-focused me. Sr. Behren's elaborated on the Gestalt theory. He said that we see objects as wholes, not just lines and singular shapes. He also pointed out that our visual construction likes to see things in a very "grid" like sort of fashion. The manufacturing papers, for example, were very linear. They were set up so that they could convey a point about the paper, but behind the mere visual aspect we can now see that our brain takes a liking to this very organized setting.
3. I didn't ask Sr. Behren's any questions. There was a blip on his presentation about the army recruiting color blind people to potentially see through army camouflage. I had a question about this, and even put it in my pre-presentation blog. Unfortunately, I did not get to ask him.
4. Camouflage is an important topic to study involving sensation and perception because it shows us our visual system is not perfect. Sr. Behren made a good point at the start of his presentation. He said that the point of studying camouflage was to not figure out what we can see, but what we can't see. The point in this is to figure out how our visual system cannot work. Knowing this, we can make definite statements about how it does.
1) Camouflage is around us every day and can come in many different forms. My text didn’t have much information on camouflage, so I did my own research on the internet: Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines camouflage in three ways 1) the disguising especially of military equipment or installations with paint, nets, or foliage 2) concealment by means of disguise and 3) behavior or artifice designed to deceive or hide. As we know now this can come in many forms, yet the two basic forms that we think of the most that use camouflage is the military and animals, such as chameleons in order to protect themselves. To me camouflage basically is a display of colors that tricks the eye. The text says there are three primary and interacting dimensions that are combined and effect our perception of color: hue, saturation, and lightness, all of these things effect the perception of camouflage. The text explains that these three components effect how we see anything at a given moment. If there isn’t much light we will see the color or the hue much differently than if there was a lot of light on that object. Camouflage also reminds me of simultaneous color contrast, which means that the appearance of the color can be changed because another color is present at the same time. Gestalt approach emphasizes that we perceive objects as well-organized, whole structures rather than as separated, isolated parts. The article related the Gestalt theory being born in 1880 and cubism both emerged in the years that preceded WWI. In WWI camouflage was magnified, because of the use of airplanes. Abbot Thayer an American artist described camouflage as “the employment of strong arbitrary patterns of color which tend to conceal the wearer by destroying his apparent continuity to surface”. When I think of camouflage I am reminded of Laws of grouping. There are five laws of grouping: Law of proximity, law of similarity, law of good continuation, law of closure, and law of common fate. For example, the law of proximity states that objects near each other tend to be seen as a unit. This is a perfect example of camouflage and especially military camouflage. The soldiers will often paint the ends of the guns the color of tree branches so when they are sticking out the eye will see it as a tree branch instead of the end of a gun, which emphasizes Gestalt’s approach. Researchers are now looking at camouflage that will hide something whether it is still and even if it is in motion. I looked at the website that you suggested we look at and that was amazing. You could barely even tell where Liu Bolin was in some pictures. This is a great way to show the different forms of camouflage and how it affects our perception, if you haven’t gone to this sight I suggest you do.
2) Dr. Berhen’s talk was extremely interesting. He was very animated when he spoke and you can tell he is very passionate about what he does. Dr. Berhen’s spoke about how camouflage, magic, and graphic design all relate to one another. There are three basic kind of camouflage 1) figure-ground blending- high similarity between figure and ground 2) Figure Disruption or Dazzle 3) Coincident Disruption. An example of Figure Disruption would be in WW1 when they disguised their ships to change the depth perception so that the enemies would misinterpret their depth and not hit their ship. Coincident Disruption is blending and dazzle, in which there is disruption in the figure or pattern and then blending and example of this is snakes or chameleons. He emphasized how all of this started by Gestalt Theory and the initial experiments with apparent movement by the Gestalt Psychologists was done with a spinning motion toy called a zoetrope. Gestalt psychology has so much to do with perception that the word Gestalt in German often means design. We are constantly comparing things and in our eagerness to make connections we often make mistakes between the similarity and proximity of groupings. I really enjoyed his pictures that dealt with lines and circles and how symmetric they were and how he mentioned that good designs are based on this way of looking at the world. So, I went to the UNI design website and saw exactly what he had mentioned. http://www.uni.edu/dtgfs/InteriorDesign/studentwork-colorstudies.htm The students work was incredible, and now that he has pointed this out, I notice it pretty much everywhere I go. Dr. Berhen’s is extremely knowledgeable and this website shows a lot of his work and I recommend you check it out it’s very interesting. http://www.uni.edu/artdept/behrens.html
3) What is the most interesting thing or mind blowing piece of artwork that you have come across? How did this artwork relate to camouflage, magic, and graphic design?
4) Camouflage is an important area in Sensation and Perception, because it has to do with how were perceive things. It shows that we perceive things that are familiar to us, and will group things together if we can. It also show how we construct the things we see. For example, if there is a gun that is meant to look like a tree branch and it is next to a tree, we are going to see that gun as a branch on that tree. Only when we separate the tree from the gun will we recognize the object as a gun. This is extremely interesting and influences a lot of what we perceive in the real world.
1.) Through my readings I have been able to understand that camouflage can mess with your visual detection of images or objects. A basic definition of Camouflage is concealing or minimizing parts of an image or the image as a whole. This can either be done naturally or man-made. Also, camouflage may be present for perception but also can affect our senses as well. Camouflage’s general purpose is to deceive the observer, by giving them a false idea of what they are truly looking at. According to one of the website that I looked at, camouflage can be broken down into four sections; cryptic, disruptive, mimicry, and countershading. They can be detected separately, but are also used together to increase the effectiveness. Cryptic is used to blend the environment to make the image almost unperceivable. This can also be achieved when the artists makes the items look as close to the background as possible, making it harder to detect the actual idea in the picture. For example, if an artist was painting a lion, they would have the lion in a setting where there are objects in the background that are like the lion itself; for example in the grass in Africa. The only thing that may detect the lion might be its ears sticking up or its tail or something else. When an image is disruptive it confuses the observer by using brighter colors that throw the observer off. Mimicry can be seen when trying to hide an object in something so it is harder to see. An example of this might be if an artist was trying to show a butterfly on a leaf, but we have a hard time recognizing the butterfly because we may not realize that that is really what it is. Finally, Countershading is the use of lighter colors being used where darker colors would normally be used. This process gets rids of the depth perception and doesn’t give us the normal cues we use to process a picture.
2.) Dr. Behren talked a lot about the use of camouflage in design aspects. Contrasting with the website I got my information from, he narrowed down the types of camouflage by saying there are three main types. He mentioned Coincidentent Camouflage, Figure Disruption, and Figure Ground Blending. These ideas coincide with the process listed in my readings. Dr. Behren also said that the best way to understand camouflage is to first and foremost understand the Gestalt Theory. Another interesting thing that he mentioned in his talk was the use of the Ames room. This interested me a little bit, so I did a little research on the topic. The idea behind the Ames room is that there are two illusions going on that throws off the observer. The true shape on the room is not a square. It is in fact a trapezoid. The reason that this room is an illusion is that fact that we rely on our visual system and our past experience to understand and interpret the room as being a cubic square.
3.) I would have asked Dr. Behren questions about how people came up with the idea of illusions and camouflage. The first and only thing (before this class) that came to mind when thinking of camouflage was the colors of military outfits. I didn’t know there was such a thing used in perception as well as in design. I would have also asked Dr. Behren why it is that our visual system relies on the first interpretation of what we see. For example, why is it that when we see the Ames room for the first time, why is it that we automatically interpret the room as being a square? I understand that we just expect it to be that way, but why?
4.) Camouflage is an important topic to understand when discussing sensation and perceptions. This is because there is so much that goes into understanding and interpreting what we are looking at. What we think we are seeing may not in fact be what we think it is. Also it is important to make sure that what we are looking at is the entire picture and that there isn’t anything in the shading or background that we may not have picked up on, but may in fact, be the central piece to the picture that we are seeing. This can also be seen in real life in many areas. Solders in the war, going off the battle, being visually aware of everything that we are seeing, making sure that we haven’t missed anything. It can be seen in almost every aspect of life. It can be seen in something as simple as cleaning the house. Did we get all the disinfectants put away? The cleaner bottle may blend in with the carpet or something else and shouldn’t be left out. Camouflage can be seen in so many aspect of daily life and therefore that is why it is so important and should be made aware for others to understand.
1. Camouflage is how something is disguised from another’s perception and how it is can to differentiate from its background. Camouflage is all around us. Animals use it to stay safe from predators, animals use it to stalk their prey, and soldiers use it so they cannot be recognized easily from enemy armies. The Gestalt theory helps explain why camouflage works. The Gestalt theory emphasizes that the whole is different than the sum of its parts, and this is true in the case of camouflage because if you look at the parts separately, there is a definite figure and a definite background, but when you add these two parts together, it appears to just be one. Camouflage uses some Gestalt principles, like the law of similarity (where things that are the same color, shape, etc. are grouped together) and the law of proximity (where things that are near to each other are put in the same group) to conceal the figure from the background, making them hard to distinguish one from another.
2. From Dr. Behren’s talk, I learned that there are three basic types of camouflage. These types are high similarity, where the figure and ground blend together and the figure mimics the background, high difference, where there is disruption between the figure and the background (also known as dazzle), and last, a type called coincidence disruption, which is a combination of the first type (blending) and the second type (dazzle). The coincidence disruption type is the most prominent in our environment. He also talked about the Gestalt theory’s importance in camouflage. Gestalt means form, structure or arrangement and Gestalt theorists came up with the rules of thumb, which are now design principles for artists. Three Gestaltian principles are used with camouflage, law of similarity (when two things that are similar looking are perceived as belonging together in a group), law of proximity (where two things that are near each other are grouped together), and edge alignment (a rule that is also important in the glowing triangle illusion). I thought that the examples he gave were very interesting, like the one where it looked like the Lone Ranger looked like he had a really big hat on but it was actually a cactus. This is example reminded me a lot of a picture that my mom took when I was little. It was supposed to be of my younger brother, but I was standing behind him and we just happened to be standing so it looked like my ponytail was attached to his head. He also gave an interesting example of the Ames rooms, where it appears that a person standing in one corner is a giant, while the person in the opposite corner is very small because the room is not how much rooms are built, but since we are used to pretty much all rooms being built the same way, we are fooled by this.
3. He mentioned that during World War II, the army tried to recruit colorblind soldiers to fight for them because it was thought that they could see through camouflage. I’m interested in how people who are colorblind perceive camouflage and if they really are not as fooled by it as the rest of us who can see color.
4. I think camouflage is an important area of sensation and perception to study because it is a way that we may not be able to perceive something that is actually there. We are unable to distinguish a figure from its background and why we are not able to distinguish these give us insight into why we can usually tell them apart. Camouflage is just another way that our brain might lie to us and tell us that there is not something there, when in actuality there is.
1) I learned from my textbook that ambiguity occurs because a particular image on the retina can be caused by an infinite number of different objects, which is called the inverse projection problem. From web exploration I found very interesting information about animal camouflage. This is mainly used as a defense mechanism. Animals use camouflage as protection from predators. Some animals have countershading, which helps them to not be seen as easily, and some can completely change their look to the surroundings. My text also talks about the Gestalt principle, which is when you look at things in parts and then as a whole. An example is a painting, lets say of a persons face. Far away, it looks like a painting of a face, close up, it is constructed of millions of dots that formed the face. It talks about structuralism and how many sensations combined create what we see.
2) Dr. Behren’s expertise was in graphic design, so he used that to his advantage to explain camouflage to us. He stated that there are three basic kinds of camouflauge; Figure ground blending (high similarity), Mimicry (between 2 objects), and Figure Distruption or Dazzle (high difference). He later stated a 4th kind of camouflage; Coincident Dusription, which is blending + dazzle (ie: butterflies that look like tree bark). Dr Behren mentions that in order to understand camouflage, you must undertand the Gestalt Theory as well. I really enjoyed when he talked about the Ames room. Everytime I see this, it confuses me, even though I know how it is done. It reminds me of the hallway that the people and willy wonka go down in ‘willy wonka and the chocolate factory.’ I love that movie. Now I want chocolate. How this is done is that the actual shape of the room is not a typical square; it is a trapezoid. Based on our past experiences, we expect it to be a universal square room. The walls are slanted and the ceiling and floor are at an incline, and the right corner is much closer to the observer than the left corner (or vice versa). As a result, a person standing in one corner appears to the observer to be a giant, while a person standing in the other corner appears to be a very short or dwarf like.
3) What question did you ask him or would have asked him if there was time? I did not ask Dr. Behren any questions. I was curious what the statistics were of how the army trains color blind people to see through camouflage.
4) Camouflage is just another factor that shows our visual system is not 100% perfect. Our brain and eyes can fool us, not only with camouflage, but with object recognition, optical illusions, ect. It is important that we are looking the entire picture as a whole and include details of shadings and backgrounds that may perceive it to be something, when it is something else. Camouflage is not only studied in sensation and perception, but in art as well (ie: graphic design, paintings, etc.)
1) Gestalt theory discusses that all parts are a part of a whole and organisms whether it be human or animal, use that fact to their advantage. Our text discusses two concepts; the concept of synchrony and the concept of common fate. The grouping principle of common fate suggest that visual elements will group together if they're all moving in the same direction. The grouping principle of synchrony states that if all of the items in a set change at the same time then it doesn't necessarily matter if they're moving in the same direction or not. This is the basic principles that allows camouflage (in general) to function as intended. Internet exploration took me to camouflage as a defense mechanism and discussed mainly how animals hide from predators. Usually, animals try to blend into their surroundings to escape enemies. Sometimes, animals project themselves as something dangerous, or harmful to their predators to make the enemies deviate from attacking.
2) Dr. Behren discussed camouflage in a different perspective than I have actively experienced it. He referred to camouflage in terms of using it to blend things in artwork. He started the discussion by showing us examples of how people tried to hide images in artwork directly by painting an image and then painting around it. The more interesting part of the presentation, for me at least, is when he pointed out how people use shapes and lines to make an image fit together. At this point it seemed like he was trying to link camouflage to aesthetics which makes sense to me. Camouflage doesn't necessarily need to be used to hide images, but it can occasionally be used to prioritize images that people see.
3) I asked him why there was an inconsistency with font colors on the paper advertisement. He explained that sometimes it's just important to go against what people are expecting to see. That sometimes, inconsistency draws an individual's attention more because it disrupts their immediate train of thought and requires them to refocus. At least, that's what I took away from his response.
I would have liked to have asked him, provided there was time, if camouflage is something with varying degrees that depends on your goal. It would seem that camouflage isn't always about making something invisible as it is, making things less apparent. The difference in these two statements is that you still want the object to be SEEN in the second one.
4) Camouflage is an important area in sensation and perception because it is a topic of altered sensations and perceptions. Camouflage demonstrates that our eyes are not fully able to detect every stimuli that it experiences 100% accurately, and it's important for people to realize this.
1) I learned that there are many different forms of camouflage. It's not just a print that soldiers use on their uniforms. It's used in many differnt places. Animals use this to hide from prey and blend with their surroundings, artists use it to make their work more appealing and to catch an audiences' attention, and it's also used in various designs in our everyday life that we are not usually aware of. I also learned about figure and ground and the difference between them. With camouflage, someone or something is trying to "blend" the figure in with the ground so there is not a noticeable difference, or it at least hard to tell the difference between the two.
2) Dr. Beherens mostly discussed camouflage in terms of graphic design and art. He discussed how a lot of times artists will make grids in there work so that things line up or are more camouflaged, without the viewer really aware of what they are doing. They also use camouflage to make things seem as though they are suppose to belong together or be completely separate. Just by changing an angle, a line, or a color you can make things connect or disconnect more than before.
3) I would have asked for more examples from his personal work and also maybe to go more in depth with how or why the eyes reacts to camouflage.
4) I think that camouflage is important because it deals with our visual intelligence and how there are so many different things that cause our eyes to react differently, which in turn causes everyone to perceive things differently. Camouflage is one of those things that pretty much plays a trick on our eyes, and if we master how this happens, it can become very useful to us. For example, in war and the uniforms that allow our soldiers to blend into their surroundings without being detected as often.
1. I learned a lot of different things about camouflage in the past week from the lecture Dr. Behrens gave, the article we read, and from doing some online research on the topic. Camouflage has a strong foundation in Gestalt principles and theories. The Gestalt perspective formed partially as a response to the structuralism of Wilhelm Wundt, who focused on breaking down mental events and experiences to the smallest elements. Max Wertheimer noted that rapid sequences of perceptual events, such as rows of flashing lights, create the illusion of motion even when there is none. This is known as the phi phenomenon. Motion pictures are based upon this principle, with a series of still images appearing in rapid succession to form a seamless visual experience. If it the object has similarity, we view it as a whole because the figure and ground blend together so were not able to distinguish the different parts. There were a few principles of perceptual organization that tie into Gestalts principles. According to the law of proximity, things that are near each other seem to be grouped together. The law of similarity holds that things which are similar in some way appear to be grouped together. Grouping can occur in both visual and auditory stimuli. The last law was the law of pragnanz. The word pragnanz is a German term meaning “good figure.” The law of Pragnanz is sometimes referred to as the law of good figure or the law of simplicity. This law holds that objects in the environment are seen in a way that makes as simple as possible. The use of camouflage, no matter what the specific application, has certain basic requirements that must be met. First, the camouflage must be tailored to the observer. Second, the camouflage must deceive the observer into making a false judgment about the camouflaged object. The strategies of camouflage can be broken down into up to four categories, which are cryptic, disruptive, mimicry, and counter shading. Each of these deals with a different method of deceiving the observer, and often strategies are combined increase their effectiveness. A tiger’s distinctive coloration, for example, uses a combination of counter shading and cryptic colors and patterns to blend into its environment. Camouflage can be used by humans as well especially in the military.
2. Dr Behren’s talk was rather interesting and funny because of his JOKER LAUGH!!!! AHAHAHAHAHA. I enjoyed how he was so enthusiastic about art which made it more interesting to learn about. Me personally, I haven’t been a big fan of art because number one I am terrible at it and number two I had my share of terrible art teachers. By this lecture and the way he brought forth the information, this made me see art with an open mind. He shows a lot of examples of different kinds of camouflage. One of the main things I remember was when he showed us how camouflage fits into graphic design by applying some of the Gestalt principles with grouping certain characteristics together and organizing certain lines and patterns. He elaborated three different types of camouflage which were high similarity, high difference, and dazzle type. High similarity is when the figure and ground end up bleeding together. High difference was when the figure is disrupted and the coincident disruption applies the bleeding mechanism. One particular example he used was the colorblind test in which you has to be able to see the 74 that was hidden within the camouflage to determine if you were in fact color blind.
3. A question I wanted to ask him was what animal do you think has the best camouflage?
What makes various pieces of art some expensive and how do they categorize different pieces to put a price on the art piece?
On average, what is the income range for a graphic designer?
What are some of the basic things you have to learn to reconstruct you perception on where certain things are placed in a graphic design piece?
4.I think it’s an important area because it has a lot to do with how your eyes can be tricked and how you brain lies to do. Also its applies some of the basic rules on how we perceive objects. I think one of the best ways to understand the functions of our visual system is to see how we can manipulate it and why these manipulations are able to occur. I think if we can get a clear understanding on these questions of why and how our visual system works, this can make it easier to transform this information to the various forms of technology the reader was talking about. Camouflage is a avenue we can go down to see how certain objects can be perceived and it also provides an example in which Sensation and perception can be analyzed on various levels.
1)Camouflage is a method of tricking an observer into misreading the object. There is dazzle, mimicry, and figure ground blending. Dazzle takes something an creates differences in it to trick our senses while the other two forms make something very similar to trick us. Another important thing that we learned that deals with Camouflage is Gestalt theory. This says that we see things as a whole image instead of seeing it in pieces. They talk about many rules for achieving this.
Rule of Proximity, Figure Ground Rule, Rule of Similarity, Rule of Closure, Rule of Simplicity, and the Rule of Repetition.
Gelstalt theory uses all these things to explain how our visual system works and how is relates to camouflage.
2) Dr. Behren did a very nice job in class talking about camouflage and it was nice to see someone be so excited about what they are working on I could tell that he really cared about it. He talked about how you can use the grid system to camouflage things which I found interesting because I had only ever thought of it as a way to give depth to objects. I like how he related camouflage to science by talking about Gestalt theory but he also really talked about how it related to art which was a new viewpoint for our class. I was really interested in camouflage and magic and how he talked about slight of hand tricks and ventriloquism.
3) I would like to know if Dr. Behren got into ventriloquism because he was studying camouflage or if he had be into it before that. Because most of the camouflage we see is based a lot around color can color blind people side step this? Is it instinct for animals to know they are camouflage?
4) I think that camouflage is very important to Sensation and Perception because it is another window into how our visual system works. It also involves a lot of the concepts that we talk about such as color and proximity.
1) Camouflage is important in many different areas but the two main ones that stick out for me is military tactics and art. Its a way to trick a persons eye or show them a optical illusion that something isn't really there. Its away of having something right in front of you but your still not able to see it because it blends in with the material or colors its surrounding. Gestalt theory is very important in trying to understand camouflage and how it works. They looked at many different ways people see objects for instance proximity or nearness and stimulatory and perceptual organization. Perceptual organization is the grouping of small parts into larger units. This is important in understanding psychology because its a way of tricking our eye and not realizing that something larger is right in front of us. Gestalt also tried to look at things as a parts not as a whole, which is why camouflage was so important to him.
2) I would have never understood the importance of the actual shapes that are within the camouflage. How he would show us different ovals or circles in the art which were hidden within it. Its neat to see that we actually pick up certain things when we don't even realize what we are doing. That some people have enough knowledge on camouflage and art that they are able to put it within a painting and we are able to tell the difference yet we don't know that we are doing this. The art aspect is important because he talked a lot about graphic design and how it relates to almost anything. It just shows how relevant and important colors, shapes, and camouflage are to us everyday.
3) I asked him if his military background had any part of shaping is liking for camouflage? Which is funny because he said this never really helped shape why he like graphic design and camouflage so much. Another area that I should have asked him about was if all the same rules apply to people that are color blind? If they are able to tell the difference between certain parts of graphic design and camouflage or if they see it the same way we do?
4) I have always thought of camouflage important but only applied it to hunting and military tactics. I would have never thought of the importance of graphic design or even magic and how people are using it every day to trick everyone's eyes. Its very important because it helps us see things that are or not there and also helps us hid things that we don't want people to see. Its neat to look at the different ways that people are able to trick our eyes into not seeing something that is clearly right in front of us. I also think that camouflage is important because of the military and hunting aspect.
1) Camouflage can be thought of as a way of confusing the relationship between figure and ground, a way of creating visual noise. In wartime the razzle-dazzle patterns on ships, planes, trucks, and personnel break up the continuity of contours and shapes and therefore the figure-ground relationship. Cubism, as practiced by Picasso, Braque, and others, provided some of the inspiration for camouflage. Artists played an important role in creating such camouflage for the military, by breaking up and confusing figure and ground. I found a great website that goes into further detail about camoflage as well as the gestalt theory/gestatl psychologists:http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/1090/Perception-Evidence-Truth-and-Seeing.html
2) I learned from Dr. Behrens' lecture that there are three baskic kinds of camoflage. The three basic kinds of camoflage include: figure-ground bending (high similarity), figure disruption or dazzle (high difference), and coincident disruption (blending and dazzle). I thought it was interesting that there were three different kinds of camoflage because I've always thought of this topic as a fairly simple concept however; after hearing Dr. Behrens' lecture, I've learned that its quite a complex topic.
3) I would have like to asked Dr. Behren why he chose to focus his area of research relating to camoflage? What made him think that this was such a complex topic that gave him the idea of researching camoflage?
4) I think it's important because it shows a different dimension to how our vision perceives multiple colors/shapes/objects etc. It shows that our vision has to construct the unique colors/shapes objects etc.
1. From the readings I have learned that camouflage is a defense mechanism that uses Gestalt grouping rules to hide prey from larger predators. Good continuation is where lines of similar orientation tend to be seen as part of the same contour. Another Gestalt grouping rule is occlusion, where an object appears to be in front of another object, when in actuality it is not. Our visual intelligence will construct lines where it believes an object may be occluding another shape. Occlusion is responsible for the perception of illusory contours and illusory disks that arise in Kanizsa's figures. Related to Gestalt grouping rules, texture segmentation involves separating coarser textures from finer textures within an image. Similarity refers to the notion that "chunks" of such an image that are similar to each other (in terms of color, size, orientation, or form) will be grouped together. Proximity is a rule stating that the tendency of two features to group together will increase as the distance between them decreases. Parallelism is a rule for distinguishing figure-ground objects and states that parallel contours are likely to belong to the same figure. Symmetry states that symmetrical regions are more likely to be seen as figure. Common region (often used in camouflage in animals) states that two features will be grouped together if they appear to be a part of the same larger region. All of these rules are in effect when camouflage is being used.
2. Dr. Behren's lecture was very entertaining because he is a very animated speaker. You can tell he really enjoys the research he has completed on camouflage by his energy level. From the lecture, I gained insight into the influence of cubism on camouflage design, influencing the patterns used on the dazzle ships of WWI. I was also able to gain an understanding of the types of camouflage from the lecture, which are figure-ground bending (high similarity), figure disruption or dazzle (high difference), and coincident disruption (blending and dazzle). I also learned that coincident disruption is the most common form of camouflage in nature.
3. I would ask Dr. Behren about the efficacy of the dazzle-ship paint jobs. Although the idea looked good on paper, I have never seen a ship with that type of camouflage in my lifetime, which leads me to believe that the dazzle-paint was ineffective at thwarting enemy attacks. If dazzle paint was not effective, what new methods, if any, is the government using to camouflage our ships?
4. I believe camouflage is important to sensation and perception because camouflage is ineffective unless we construct it with our own visual intelligence. If we better understand how the process of such construction occurs, we will be able to make effective advances in camouflage technology and possibly have an advantage over "enemies."
1) I learned how Camouflage is a huge survival technique for animals and that many animals rely on camouflage as a way to survive in their surroundings and avoid preditors in their environments. Some animals hide in plain sight in order to survive in the wild! The difference between humans and some animals who hide in the open is that these animals have colors and patterns that allow them to disappear, almost becoming invisible before your very eyes.Camouflage is used to help animals attack their prey as well as defend themselves from predators. Some animals are born with camouflage patterns such as Zebras, and some animals are able to change their colors in order to blend in and hide from their preditors such as Cameleons.
2) I found Dr. Behren's presentation on camouflage very fun and interesting to listen to. He did an excellent job at presenting the information with enthusiam in order to make it fun to learn. He started his presentation by discussing basic kinds of camouflage such as figure ground blending, figure disruption (dazzle), mimicry (high similarity not between ground but between two different figures) and coicident disruption (Blending and Dazzle). He explains how all camouglage started with the Gestault Theory and how at every single moment we are comparing things and looking for similarities, differences, and spatial clusters. This is all based on the brain trying to making meaning of different things and putting everything together. Dr. Behren also discussed WWII and how color blind soldiers were recruited by the US in the belief that they could see through camouflage. He showed us many pictures that demonstrated different kinds of camouflage. One I remember was a photo with little toy solders. I also enjoyed the pictures other students had created that they created that looked like one student was holding another student in the palm of their hand. They did this by using depth techniques.
3.) I would have asked Dr. Behren how it came to be that he became so interested in camouflage that he decided to base his career and studies on it.
4)I believe camouflage is important most important for survival of certain species of animals. I also believe it is important because it shows our mind's eagerness to find meaningful connections, and in doing this our minds often easily make mistakes.
1.) Camouflage is a very useful tool, an avoidance of observation, that is used as a defense mechanism. It allows objects to be remain unseen from the surrounding environment by deception. Cryptic coloration is the most common form of camouflage. This is where an animal's colors are similar to the surroundings and can easily blend in to hide from the predator. The gestalt theory states that the objects we percieve we see as a whole and this relates to camouflage because the the objects that are trying to blend in with their surrounding want to be whole so that it just looks like one object so they can't be seen and remain protected. This can also relate to the figure and ground theory because the object is seen as a whole.
2.) I was actually at a wake when Dr. Behren came to speak to the class, but I asked some students from class what he said and what they learned from the presentation and took some great notes. Dr. Behren stated that there are three kinds of camouflage, these are: figure-ground bending which is high similarity, figure disruption or dazzle, which is high difference, and coincident disruption, which is blending and dazzle. He also stated that coincident disruption was the most common form of camouflage, which is different than what I found on the web.
3.) If I was there I wouold have asked Dr. Behren how he got into studying camouflage and how he made a career out of it. I would also be interested to know if he has gone to different countries to study animals and how they use camouflage as a defense
mechanism.
4,) Camouflage is important to what we are studying now because we use our visual intelligence to construct objects. It shows that our visual intelligence can sometimes consrtuct objects as a whole even when they are not, so as stated in class, our minds can play tricks on us. Camouflage as a defense mechanism is very interesting to me and how animals use it to to stay alive is fascinating.
1) Our reader offers rule 12 as a key example of how camouflage functions: “If two visual structures have a nonaccidental relation, group them and assign them to a common origin”. And Gestalt psychology has many points of reference for explaining how camouflage functions. These are explained well by Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization. These rules “specify how we organize small parts into wholes” (Goldstein, 2007). We simplify things as much as possible, according to the law of simplicity, and then we group similar things together with the law of simplicity. We group things together when they are moving in the same direction according to the law of meaningfulness or familiarity, and their nearness influences these groupings.
Next, the classics article by Julez delved into Gestalt principles as applied to camouflage to explore methods that might be used to discover how well we are able to differentiate by manipulating texture and differentiation in space. Julez found that the “preprocessing of neighboring points that have similar brightness values”, which he referred to as connectivity, was more basic to the visual system than form recognition. Finally, In web divergence we learned about mimicry (I chose stick bugs!), figure-ground blending (think of a white bunny in winter - also a Gestalt idea), and the fascinating Dazzle camouflage, which really falls within the category of both camouflage and illusion.
2) From the Dr. Behren’s talk I learned a great deal about camouflage. Primarily, from him I realized that camouflage can be thought of in more positive terms – instead of “trickery” we can call it “magic”, and who doesn’t love the slight-of-hand skill that a talented magician on the stage possess? Or even the fascinating way that nature mindlessly possesses great magical capability to camouflage for survival amongst numerous species? Humans merely copy! Dr. Behren’s slides were very interesting – especially his student projects which toyed with the visual perception of size using the illusion made possible through distance. Dr. Behren’s eccentric and jolly nature, no doubt, carried the day. It was very enjoyable to have him in as a guest speaker.
3) I would ask Dr. Behren more about the Grid system as it applies to graphic design, and where best to find further reading on this topic. I realize that this does not relate to the topic at hand, but I it was a part of his talk and it piqued my curiosity and as yet remains unsatisfied (while I have gladly been able to learn much of what I wanted on the topic at hand!).
4) Camouflage is an important and applicable area of study for sensation & perception because it is directly related to many of the principles of visual perception. These include Gestalt Theory, how illusions occur, and how we experience change and/or attentional blindness.
1) Camouflage was first researched by the Gestalt psychologists who’s theory states that perception of objects happens in wholes and not individual parts. The text talks about figure and ground separation and it relates to camouflage because usually this process can not be preformed. This is due to objects matching and blending in with backgrounds. Through internet sites I have learned that animals use camouflage as a defense mechanism in order to not be eaten by other animals.
2) Dr. Behren’s presentation today was awesome. I learned that he got started in camouflage in the 1960's and that it should prevent vision, paint over objects and there are camouflage art shows all over the world. Next I learned that camouflage is related to vision, magic and graphic design. There are three kinds of Camouflage and they are figure and ground blending, mimicry figure disruption or dazzle, coincident disruption (blending&Dazzle). Gestalt= form, structure or design. I also learned about Ames distorted rooms and how they do not have a square corner in the room causing the illusion of size. I learned that graphic design means flat and the kinds of graphic design. Similarity grouping, industrial design and interior design. Similarity grouping equals attribute rhyme, industrial design deals with objects made and interior design deals with the utilization of space.
3) Are there any disorders that prevent people from seeing camouflage?
4)I think camouflage is important to S&P because it demonstrates how our minds can be tricked into making visual errors. It also demonstrates how we see whole images and not separate parts of our visual world. I also feel that it knocks everyone down a peg or two in their confidence in their own visual abilities.