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former PhD student (supervisors- Prof. Tzvi Ganel and Prof. Galia Avidan

Office: Building 98, Room 203

email: freude@post.bgu.ac.il

Erez Freud 

Research Interests

Publication

My research combines behavioral and imaging techniques to study the  perceptual processes that mediate the representation of possible and impossible objects. Impossible objects are defined as 2D drawings that represent 3D objects that could not exist in real 3D space. The unique spatial uncertainty inherent to this category of objects can be used as an efficient tool for studying the perceptual processes mediating 3D object perception. Particularly, there are many situations in which the actual physical differences between possible and impossible objects are minor. Yet, such minor changes could lead in turn to considerably large differences in their perceptual phenomenology . Despite being perceived as exceptionally unusual, impossible objects still possess fundamental Gestalt attributes, such as closure, distinguishable surfaces and volume properties. Thus, the main hypothesis of my work was that the visual system utilizes intact shape attributes and successfully represents impossible objects, and that differences between object types rely on later cognitive processes.

 

Freud, E., & Ganel, T. (in press). Visual control of action directed to two-dimensional objects relies on holistic processing of object shape.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.  

 

Freud E., Rosenthal G., Ganel T. & Avidan G., (in press). Sensitivity to object impossibility in the human visual cortex- Evidence from functional connectivity. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

 

Freud, E., Hadad, B.S., Avidan, G., & Ganel, T. (2015). Evidence for Similar Early but Not Late Representation of Possible and Impossible Objects. Frontiers in Psychology. 94(6)

 

Freud, E., Avidan, G. & Ganel T., (2015). The highs and lows object impossibility: Effects of spatial frequency on holistic processing of impossible objects. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 22, 297-306.

 

Ganel T., Freud E. & Meiran N. (2014) Action is immune to the effects of Weber's law throughout the entire grasping trajectory. Journal of Vision

 

Freud E., Aisenberg D., Salzer Y., Henik A. & Ganel T. (2014) Simon in Action: The Effect of Spatial Congruency on Grasping Trajectories. Psychological Research

 

Tanzer M., Freud E., Ganel T. & Avidan G. (2014) General-holistic impairment in congenital prosopagnosia: Evidence from Garner's speeded-classification task. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 30:6,429-445

 

Freud, E., Avidan, G., & Ganel, T. (2013). Holistic Processing of Impossible Objects: Evidence from Garner’s speeded-classification task. Vision Research 93, 10-18.

 

Freud, E., Ganel, T., & Avidan, G. (2012). Representation of possible and impossible objects in the human visual cortex: evidence from fMRI adaptation. NeuroImage. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.08.070


Ganel, T., Freud, E., Chajut, E., & Algom, D. (2012). Accurate Visuomotor Control below the Perceptual Threshold of Size Discrimination. PLoS ONE, 7(4), e36253. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036253





Book Chapters

Ganel, T. & Freud, E. (2011). Weber's law during grasping. In D. Algom, D. Zakay, E. Chajut, S. Shaki, Y. Mama, & V. Shakuf (Eds.). Fechner Day 2011. Raanana, Israel: International Society for Psychophysics

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