Do we identify an object as a whole or by its parts? This simple question has been surprisingly hard to answer. It has been suggested that faces are recognized as wholes and words are recognized by parts. Here we answer the question by applying a test for crowding. In crowding, a target is harder to identify in the presence of nearby flankers. Previous work has described crowding between object...

Interest in multimodal function optimization is expanding rapidly since real-world optimization problems often require location of multiple optima in a search space. In this paper, we propose a novel genetic algorithm which combines crowding and clustering for multimodal function optimization, and analyze convergence properties of the algorithm. The crowding clustering genetic algorithm employs...

Crowding, the difficulty in identifying a letter embedded in other letters, has been suggested as an explanation for slow reading in peripheral vision. In this study, we asked whether crowding in peripheral vision can be reduced through training on identifying crowded letters, and if so, whether these changes will lead to improved peripheral reading speed. We measured the spatial extent of crow...

Here, we examined the effects of molecular crowding on the function, structure and stability of nucleases. We found that the hydrolysis of a 29-mer double-stranded DNA by the endonucleases DNase I and S1 nuclease was substantially enhanced by molecular crowding using polyethylene glycol (PEG); however, molecular crowding had little effect on hydrolysis by exo III and exo I exonucleases. Moreove...

Simple theoretical models are presented to illustrate the effects of spatial confinement and macromolecular crowding on the equilibria and rates of protein folding and binding. Confinement is expected to significantly stabilize the folded state, but for crowding only a marginal effect on protein stability is expected. In confinement the unfolded chain is restricted to a cage but in crowding the...

Peripheral objects and their features become indistinct when closely surrounding but nonoverlapping objects are present. Most models suggest that this phenomenon, called crowding, reflects limitations of visual processing, but an intriguing idea is that it may be, in part, adaptive. Specifically, the mechanism generating crowding may simultaneously facilitate ensemble representations of feature...

Written Chinese is distinct from alphabetic languages because of its enormous number of characters with a great range of spatial complexities (stroke numbers). In this study we investigated the impact of spatial complexity on legibility of Chinese characters as well as associated crowding in peripheral vision. Our results showed that for isolated characters, threshold sizes of complex character...

In object recognition, features are thought to be processed in a hierarchical fashion from low-level analysis (edges and lines) to complex figural processing (shapes and objects). Here, we show that figural processing determines low-level processing. Vernier offset discrimination strongly deteriorated when we embedded a vernier in a square. This is a classic crowding effect. Surprisingly, crowd...