Understanding events, space and action: The role of segmentation and grouping

Thomas F. Shipley

Temple University

Objectives
To understand how the perceptual and conceptual grouping and segmentation processes result in “unitification” of both objects and events, and how these processes influences language, concepts, and memory for events and objects. To understand the two basic approaches, top-down and bottom-up, to spatial and spatiotemporal grouping.

Content
Review top-down and bottom-up approaches to objects and event segmentation. We will review some of the classic works on object perception. Then consider how these models might be applied to event perception. Finally, we will discuss potential extensions of existing models to understand spatial segmentation and action segmentation.

Target audience
Researchers interested in understanding the psychology of spatiotemporal information processing. The unit formation processes that influence object and event perception have implications in a variety of disciplines including psycholinguistics, memory, perception, motor control, and action recognition, and automated event recognition. Discussion will focus on areas of interests of the audience.