Visual signalling by asymmetry: A review of perceptual processes

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Volumn 354, Issue 1388, 1999, Pages 1383-1393

  Swaddle, John P ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Developmental stability; Fluctuating asymmetry; Sexual selection; Signalling theory; Symmetry perception

Indexed keywords

ASYMMETRY; SIGNALING; VISUAL CUE;

ANIMALIA;

EID: 0033615101     PISSN: 09628436     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.1999.0486     Document Type: Article

References (139)

1. Attneave, F. 1954 Some informational aspects of visual perception. Psychol. Rev. 61, 183-193.
2. Attneave, F. 1955 Symmetry, information, and memory for pattern. Am. J. Psychol. 68, 209-222.
3. Bahnsen, P. 1928 Eine Unterschung über Symmetrie und Asymmetrie bei visuellen Wahrnehmungen. Z. Psychol. 108, 129-154.
4. Balmford, A., Jones, I. & Thomas, A. L. R. 1993 On avian asymmetry: evidence of natural selection for symmetrical tails and wings in birds. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 252, 245-251.
5. Barlow, H. B. & Reeves, B. C. 1979 The versatility and absolute efficiency of detecting mirror symmetry in random dot displays. Vision Res. 19, 783-793.
6. Baylis, G. C. & Driver, J. 1994 Parallel computation of symmetry but not repetition within single visual shapes. Visual Cogn. 1, 377-400.
7. Baylis, G. C. & Driver, J. 1995 Obligatory edge-assignment in vision: the role of figure-and part-segmentation in symmetry detection. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 21, 1323-1342.
8. Bennett, A. T. D., Cuthill, I. G., Partridge, J. C. & Maier, E. J. 1996 Ultraviolet vision and mate choice in zebra finches. Nature 380, 433-435.
9. Bentley, A. M. 1977 Symmetry in pattern reproduction by Scottish and Kenyan children. J. Cross-Cultural Psychol. 8, 415-424.
10. Blough, D. S. 1969 Generalization gradient shape and summation in steady-suite tests. J. Exp. Anal. Behav. 12, 91-104.
11. Bomba, P. C. & Siqueland, E. R. 1983 The nature and structure of infant form categories. J. Exp. Child Psychol. 35, 294-328.
12. Bornstein, M. H., Ferdinandsen, K. & Gross, C. G. 1981 Perception of symmetry in infancy. Dev. Psychol. 17, 82-86.
13. Bruce, V. G. & Morgan, M. J. 1975 Violations of symmetry and repetition in visual patterns. Perception 4, 239-249.
14. Bullock, S. & Cliff, D. 1997 The role of 'hidden preferences' in the artificial co-evolution of symmetric signals. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 264, 505-511.
15. Carmody, D. P., Nodine, C. F. & Locher, P. J. 1977 Global detection of symmetry. Percept. Motor Skills 45, 1267-1273.
16. Chaudhuri, A. 1990 Modulation of the motion aftereffect by selective attention. Nature 344, 60-62.
17. Cook, N. D. 1995 Artefact or network evolution. Nature 374, 313.
18. Corballis, M. C. & Roldan, C. E. 1974 On the perception of symmetrical and repeated patterns. Percept. Psychophys. 16, 136-142.
19. Corballis, M. C. & Roldan, C. E. 1975 Detection of symmetry as a function of angular orientation. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 1, 221-230.
20. Davenport, D. & Kohanzadeh, Y. 1982 Orchids, bilateral symmetry and insect perception. J. Theor. Biol. 94, 241-252.
21. Dawkins, M. S. & Guilford, T. 1995 An exaggerated preference for simple neural network models of signal evolution? Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 261, 357-360.
22. Delius, J. D. & Habers, G. 1978 Symmetry: can pigeons conceptualize it? Behav. Biol. 22, 336-342.
23. Delius, J. D. & Hollard, V. D. 1995 Orientation invariant pattern recognition by pigeons (Columba livia) and humans (Homo sapiens). J. Comp. Psychol. 109, 278-290.
24. Delius, J. D. & Nowak, B. 1982 Visual symmetry recognition by pigeons. Psychol. Rev. 44, 199-212.
25. Delius, J. D., Perchard, R. J. & Emmerton, J. 1976 Polarized light discrimination by pigeons and an electroretinographic correlate. J. Comp. Physiol. Pychol. 90, 560-571.
26. Dill, M. & Heisenberg, M. 1995 Visual pattern memory without shape recognition. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 349, 143-152.
27. Driver, J., Baylis, G. C. & Rafal, R. 1992 Preserved figure ground segregation and symmetry detection in visual neglect. Nature 360, 73-75.
28. Dufour, K. & Weatherhead, P. J. 1996 Estimation of organism-wide asymmetry in red-winged blackbirds and its relation to studies of mate selection. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 263, 769-775.
29. Eisenman, R. & Gellens, H. K. 1968 Preference for complexity simplicity and symmetry asymmetry. Percept. Motor Skills 26, 888-890.
30. Eisenman, R. & Rappaport, J. 1967 Complexity preference and semantic differential ratings of complexity simplicity and symmetry asymmetry. Psychonom. Sci. 7, 147-148.
31. Emmerton, J. & Delius, J. D. 1980 Wavelength discrimination in the visible and ultraviolet spectrum by pigeons. J. Comp. Physiol. 141, 47-52.
32. Enquist, M. & Arak, A. 1994 Symmetry, beauty and evolution. Nature 372, 169-172.
33. Enquist, M. & Johnstone, R. A. 1997 Generalization and the evolution of symmetry preferences. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 264, 1345-1348.
34. Evans, M. L. R., Martins, T. L. F. & Haley, M. 1994 The asymmetrical cost of tail elongation in red-billed streamertails. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 256, 97-103.
35. Fisher, C. B. & Bornstein, M. H. 1981 Identification of symmetry: effects of stimulus orientation and head position. Percept. Psychophys. 32, 443-448.
36. Fisher, C. B. & Fracasso, M. P. 1987 The Goldmeier effect in adults and children: environmental, retinal, and phenomenal influences on judgments of visual symmetry. Perception 16, 29-39.
37. Fiske, P. & Amundsen, T. 1997 Female bluethroats prefer males with symmetric colour bands. Anim. Behav. 54, 81-87.
38. Fitts, P. M., Weinstein, M., Rappaport, M., Anderson, N. & Leonard, J. A. 1956 Stimulus correlations of visual pattern recognition: a probability approach. J. Exp. Psychol. 51, 1-11.
39. Foster, D. H. 1991 Operating on spatial operations. In Pattern recognition by man and machine (ed. R. J. Watt), pp. 50-68. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan Press.
40. Fox, J. 1975 The use of structural diagnostics in recognition. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 1, 57-67.
41. Free, J. B. 1970 Effect of flower shapes and nectar guides on the behaviour of foraging bees. Behaviour 37, 269-285.
42. Freyd, J. J. & Tversky, B. 1984 Force of symmetry in form perception. Am. J. Pychol. 97, 109-126.
43. Gerbino, W. & Zhang, L. 1991 Visual orientation and symmetry detection under affine transformations. Bull. Psychonom. Soc. 29, 480.
44. Giurfa, M., Eichman, B. & Menzel, R. 1995 Göttingen neurobiology report (ed. N. Elsner & R. Menzel). Stuttgart: Thieme.
45. Goldmeier, E. 1972 Similarity in visually perceived forms. Psychol. Issues 8, Monograph 29.
46. Grammer, K. & Thornhill, R. 1991 Human facial attractiveness and sexual selection: the roles of averageness and symmetry. J. Comp. Pychol. 108, 233-242.
47. Guilford, T. & Dawkins, M. S. 1991 Receiver psychology and the evolution of animal signals. Anim. Behav. 41, 1-14.
48. Hargittai, I. 1992 Pentagonal symmetry: fullerenes and quasi-crystals. Per. Mineral. 61, 9-28.
49. Hasson, O. 1989 Amplifiers and the handicap principle in sexual selection: a different emphasis. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 235, 383-406.
50. Hasson, O. 1990 The role of amplifiers in sexual selection: an integration of the amplifying and the Fisherian mechanisms. Evol. Ecol. 4, 277-289.
51. Hertz, M. 1929 Die Organisation des optischen Feldes bei der Beine. Z. Vergl. Physiol. 11, 107-145.
52. Hertz, M. 1933 Über figurale Instensität und Qualitäten in der optische Wahrnehmung der Biene. Biol. Zbl. 53, 10-40.
53. Hoghen, J. H., Julesz, B. & Ross, J. 1976 Short-term memory for symmetry. Vision Res. 16, 861-866.
54. Hong, S. & Pavel, M. 1996 Determinants of symmetry perception. In Human symmetry perception (ed. C. W. Tyler), pp. 135 155. Utrecht: VSP International Science Publishers.
55. Horridge, G. A. 1996 The honeybee (Apis mellifera) detects bilateral symmetry and discriminates axis. J. Insect Physiol. 42, 755-764.
56. Howe, E. S. 1980 Effects of partial symmetry, exposure time, and backward masking on judged goodness and reproduction of visual pattern. Q. Jl Exp. Psychol. 32, 27-55.
57. Jablonski, P. G. & Matyjasiak, P. 1997 Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) epaulette display depends on the degree of exposure but not symmetry of intruder's epaulettes. Behaviour 134, 1115-1121.
58. Jenkins, B. 1982 Redundancy in the perception of bilateral symmetry in dot textures. Percept. Psychophys. 32, 171-177.
59. Jenkins, B. 1903 Component processes in the perception of bilaterally symmetric dot textures. Percept. Psychophys. 34, 433-440.
60. Johnstone, R. A. 1994 Female preference for symmetrical males as a by-product of selection for mate recognition. Nature 372, 172-175.
61. Johnstone, R. A. & Grafen, A. 1992 Error-prone signalling. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 248, 229-233.
62. Jones, C. E. & Buchmann, S. L. 1974 Ultraviolet floral patterns as functional orientation cues in hymenopterous pollination systems. Anim. Behav. 22, 481-485.
63. Julesz, B. 1971 Foundations of cyclopean perception. University of Chicago Press.
64. Julesz, B. & Chang, J. J. 1979 Symmetry perception and spatial-frequency channels. Perception 8, 711-718.
65. Kalish, H. L. & Guttman, N. 1957 Stimulus generalization after equal training on two stimuli. J. Exp. Psychol. 53, 139-144.
66. Kanisza, G. 1976 Subjective contours. Sci. Am. 234, 48-52.
67. Kowner, R. 1996 Facial asymmetry and attractiveness judgment in developmental perspective. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 22, 662-675.
68. Langlois, J. H. & Roggman, L. A. 1990 Attractive faces are only average. Psychol. Sci. 1, 115-121.
69. Lehrer, M., Horridge, G. A., Zbang, S. W. & Gadagkar, R. 1995 Shape vision in bees: innate preference for flower-like patterns. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 347, 123-137.
70. Ligon, J. D., Kimball, R. & Merola-Zwartjes, M. 1998 Mate choice by female red junglefowl: the issues of multiple ornaments and fluctuating asymmetry. Anim. Behav. 55, 41-50.
71. Locher, P. J. & Nodine, C. F. 1989 The perceptual value of symmetry. Comp. Math. Appl. 17, 475-481.
72. Locher, P. & Smets, G. 1992 The influence of stimulus dimensionality and viewing orientation on detection of symmetry in dot patterns. Bull. Psychonom. Soc. 30, 43-46.
73. Locher, P. & Wagemans, J. 1993 The effects of element type and spatial grouping on symmetry detection. Perception 22, 565-587.
74. Ludwig, W. 1932 Das Rechts-Links Problem im Tierrich und beim Menschen. Berlin; Springer.
75. Mach, E. 1959 The analysis of sensations. New York: Dover.
76. Mansfield, R. J. 1974 Neural basis of orientation perception in primate vision. Science 186, 1133-1135.
77. Mansfield, R. J. W. & Ronner, S. F. 1978 Orientation anisotropy in monkey visual coretx. Brain Res. 149, 229-234.
78. Moller, A. P. 1990 Fluctuating asymmetry in male sexual ornaments may reliably reveal male quality. Anim. Behav. 40, 1185-1187.
79. Moller, A. P. 1992 Female swallow preference for symmetrical male sexual ornaments. Nature 357, 238-240.
80. Moller, A. P. 1993 Female preference for apparently symmetric male sexual ornaments in the barn swallow Hirundo rustica. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 32, 371-376.
81. Moller, A. P. 1995 Bumblebee preference for symmetrical flowers. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 92, 2288-2292.
82. Moller, A. P. & Eriksson, M. 1995 Flower asymmetry and sexual selection in plants. Oikos 73, 15-22.
83. Moller, A. P. & Pomiankowski, A. 1993 Fluctuating asymmetry and sexual selection. Genetica 89, 267-279.
84. Moller, A. P. & Swaddle, J. P. 1997 Asymmetry, developmental stability and evolution. Oxford University Press.
85. Morgan, M. J., Fitch, M. D., Holman, J. G. & Lea, S. E. G. 1976 Pigeons learn the concept of an 'A'. Perception 5, 57-66.
86. Morris, M. R. & Cascy, K. 1990 Female swordtail fish prefer symmetrical sexual signal. Anim. Behav. 55, 33-39.
87. Morris, M. R., Mussel, M. & Ryan, M. J. 1995 Vertical bars on male Xiphophorus multineatus: a signal that deters rival males and attracts females. Behav: Ecol. 4, 274-279.
88. Morrone, M. C. & Burr, D. C. 1988 Feature detection in human vision, a phase dependent energy model. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 235, 221-245.
89. Morrone, M. C., Burr, D. C., Ross, J. & Owens, R. 1986 Mach bands are phase dependent, Nature 324, 250-253.
90. Oakes, E. J. & Barnard, P. 1994 Fluctuating asymmetry and mate choice in paradise whydahs, Vidua paradisaea: an experimental manipulation. Anim. Behav. 48, 937-943.
91. Ono, H. 1967 Difference threshold for stimulus length under simultaneous and non-simultaneous viewing conditions. Percept. Psychophys. 2, 201-207.
92. Osorio, D. 1996 Symmetry detection by categorization of spatial phase, a model. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 263, 105-110.
93. Palmer, A. R. 1996 Waltzing with asymmetry. Bioscience 46, 518-532.
94. Palmer, S. E. 1982 Symmetry, transformation and the structure of perceptual systems. In Organization and representation in perception (ed. J. Beck), pp. 95-144. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
95. Palmer, S. E. & Hemenway, K. 1978 Orientation and symmetry: effect of multiple, rotational, and near symmetries. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 4, 691-702.
96. Paraskevapoulo, I. 1968 Symmetry, recall, and preference in relation to chronological age. J. Exp. Child Psychol. 6, 254-264.
97. Pashler, H. 1990 Coordinate frame for symmetry detection and object recognition. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 16, 150-163.
98. Quinn, P. C. & Eimas, P. D. 1986 On categorization in early infancy. Merrill-Palmer Quart. 32, 331-363.
99. Rensch, B. 1957 Ästetische Faktoren bei Farb- und Formbevorzugungen von Affen, Z. Tierpsychol. 14, 71-99.
100. Rensch, B. 1958 Die Wirksamkeit ästhetischer Faktoren bei Wirbeltieren. Z. Tierpsychol. 15, 447-461.
101. Rensch, B. 1973 Gedächtnis, Begriffsbildung und Planhandlung bei Tiernan. Berlin: Parey.
102. Rock, I. 1973 Orientation and form. New York: Academic Press.
103. Rock, I. & Leaman, R. 1963 An experimental analysis of visual symmetry. Acta Psychol. 21, 171-183.
104. Royer, F. L. 1981 Detection of symmetry. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 7, 1186-121 0.
105. Saarinen, J. 1988 Detection of mirror symmetry in ramdom dot patterns at different eccentricities. Vision Res. 28, 755-759.
106. Schwabl, U. & Delius, J. D. 1984 Visual bar length discrimination threshold in the pigeon. Bird Behav. 5, 118-121.
107. Shepard, R. M. & Metzler, J. 1971 Mental rotation of 3-dimensional objects. Science 171, 701-703.
108. Sheridan, L. & Pomiankowski, A. 1997 Female choice for spot asymmetry in the Trinidadian guppy. Anim. Behav. 54, 1523-1529.
109. Strauss, M. 1979 Abstraction of prototypical information by adults and 10-month-old infants. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Learn. Mem. 5, 618-632.
110. Swaddle, J. P. 1996 Reproductive success and symmetry in zebra finches. Anim. Behav. 51, 203-210.
111. Swaddle, J. P. 1997a Experimental design and the signalling properties of fluctuating asymmetry. Anim. Behav. 54, 1034-1037.
112. Swaddle, J. P. 1997b Within-individual changes in developmental stability affect flight performance. Behav. Ecol. 6, 601-604.
113. Swaddle, J. P. & Cuthill, I. C. 1994a Preference for symmetric males by female zebra finches. Nature 367, 165-166.
114. Swaddle, J. P. & Cuthill, I. C. 1994b Female zebra finches prefer males with symmetrically manipulated chest plumage. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 258, 267-271.
115. Swaddle, J. P. & Cuthill, I. C. 1995 Asymmetry and human facial attractiveness: symmetry may not always be beautiful. Soc. R. Soc. Lond. B 261, 111-116.
116. Swaddle, J. P. & Witter, M. S. 1995 Chest plumage, dominance and fluctuating asymmetry in female starlings. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 260, 219-223.
117. Szilagyi, P. G. & Baird, J. C. 1977 A quantitative approach to ihe study of visual symmetry. Percept. Psychophys. 22, 287-292.
118. Szlyk, J. P., Rock, I. & Fisher, C. B. 1996 Level of processing in the perception of symmetrical forms viewed from different angles. In Human symmetry perception (ed. C. W. Tyler), pp. 123-134. Utrecht: VSP International Science Publishers.
119. Tapiovaara, M. 1990 Ideal observer and absolute efficiency of detecting mirror symmetry in random images. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A7, 2245-2253.
120. Tomkins, J. L. & Simmons, L. W. 1998 Female choice and manipulations of forcep size and symmetry in the earwig Forficula auricularia L. Anim. Behav. 56, 347-356.
121. Tyler, C. W. 1996 Human symmetry perception. In Human symmetry perception (ed. C. W. Tyler), pp. 3-22. Utrecht: VSP International Science Publishers.
122. Tyler, C. W. & Miller, R. H. 1994 Pattern identification by trajectory analysis in autocorrelation hyperspace. Proc. World Congr. Neural Networks 3, 312-316.
123. Tyler, C. W., Hardage, L. & Miller, R. 1993 Multiple mechanisms for detection of reflection symmetry in brief exposures. Perception 22(Suppl 1), 47.
124. Uetz, G. W., McClintock, W. J., Miller, D., Smith, E. I. & Cook, K. K. 1996 Limb regeneration and subsequent asymmetry in a male secondary sexual character influences sexual selection in wolf spiders. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 38, 253-257.
125. Wagemans, J. 1996 Detection of visual symmetries. In Human symmetry perception (ed. C. W. Tyler), pp. 25-48. Utrecht: VSP International Science Publishers.
126. Wagemans, J., Van Gool, L. & d'Ydewalle, G. 1991 Detection of symmetry in tachistoscopically presented dot patterns: effects of multiple axes and skewing. Percept. Psychophys. 50, 413-427.
127. Wagemans, J., Van Gool, L. & d'Ydewalle, G. 1992 Orientational effects and component processes in symmetry detection. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. A 44, 475-508.
128. Wagemans, J., Van Gool, L., Swinnen, V. & Van Horebeek, J. 1993 Higher-order structure in regularity detection. Vision Res. 33, 1067-1088.
129. Washburn, D. K. & Crowe, D. W. 1988 Symmetries of culture. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
130. Watson, P. J & Thornhill, R. 1994 Fluctuating asymmetry and sexual selection. Trends Ecol. Evol. 9, 21-25.
131. Wendcroth, P. 1994 The salience of vertical symmetry. Perception 23, 221-236.
132. Wenderoth, P. 1995 The role of pattern outline in bilateral symmetry detection with briefly flashed dot patterns. Spatial Vision 9, 57-77.
133. Weyl, H. 1952 Symmetry. Princeton University Press.
134. Younger, B. A. 1985 The segregation of items into categories by ten-month-old infants. Child Development 56, 1574-1583.
135. Younger, B. A. & Gotlieb, S. 1988 Development of categorizalion skills: changes in nature or structure of infant form categories? Dev. Psychol. 24, 611-619.
136. Zabrodsky, H. & Algom, D. 1996 Continuous symmetry: a model for human figural perception. In Human symmetry perception (ed. C. W. Tyler), pp. 289-301. Utrecht: VSP International Science Publishers.
137. Zeritall, T. R. & Hogan, D. E. 1975 Concept learning in the pigeon: transfer to new matching and nonmatching stimuli. Am. J. Pychol. 88, 233-244.
138. Zhang, L. & Gerbino, W. 1992 Symmetry in opposite-contrast dot patterns. Perception 21(Suppl. 2), 95.
139. Zimmer, A. C. 1984 Foundations for the measurement of phenomenal symmetry, Gestalt Theory 6, 118-157.