Symmetry Detection of 3D Objects*1

Developing realistic three-dimensional stimuli is an integral part of research on visual perception and cognition, including implicit and explicit forms of visual memory, symmetry perception, object recognition, and perceptual categorization. This is particularly important for object representation research because many theories that were developed with simplified two-dimensional stimuli turned out to be insufficient when tested with three-dimensional stimuli. In two experiments, we examined symmetry perception of naturalistic three-dimensional stimuli. The results indicate that symmetry perception for three-dimensional stimuli involves different processes from those employed for simple two-dimensional stimuli. Appendices include an archive of 3D stimuli created by 3D Studio Max (3ds Max) and a brief tutorial of the program geared for the construction of 3D stimuli for behavioral experiments.