Perception of soft materials relies on physics-based object representations: Behavioral and computational evidence

Author(s): Bi, Wenyan; Shah, Aalap D; Wong, Kimberly W; Scholl, Brian; Yildirim, Ilker | Abstract: When encountering objects, we readily perceive not only low-level properties (e.g., color and orientation), but also seemingly higher-level ones--including aspects of physics mass). Perhaps nowhere is this contrast more salient than in the perception soft materials such as cloths: dynamics these objects (including how their three-dimensional forms vary) are determined by physical stiffness, elasticity, mass. Here hypothesize that cloths must involve image statistics, abstract object representations incorporate intuitive physics. We provide behavioral computational evidence for hypothesis. find humans can visually match stiffness with unfamiliar textures from way they undergo natural transformations (e.g. flapping wind) across different scenarios. A model casts cloth mental simulation explains important behavior. Full paper be found at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.12.443806v1.