Ph.D. thesis: The Neurobiology of Object Constancy

Ph.D. thesis by Dr Chris Atherton that uses functional brain imaging to establish the mechanisms of object constancy underpinning misoriented shape recognition. The thesis has two introductory chapters: the first on psychometric studies of object recognition, the second on brain-imaging and neuropsychological investigations in the field. Of the three experimental chapters, two use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess the areas of of the brain associated with viewpoint-dependent and -independent object recognition, and one uses event-related potentials (ERPs, an application of EEG), to assess the relative temporal engagement of these areas. The final chapter brings together the results of the experimental chapters to make some suggestions about the likely nature of object constancy mechanisms.