In elementary school, there was probably not much thought when it came to understanding how our brains worked. From playing connect the dots or Pictionary, our perception was dictated by our limited experiences on Earth. Looking back on our early childhood days, have you wondered how at such a young age we were able to recognize complex shapes, with such limited lifetime experiences? Without having to pick up a lesson book to teach us how to perceive, we just did it, but now it is time to understand how it actually works.
As it reveals, everyday experiences and stored memories dating back to our childhood days can reveal fascinating revelations about the human brain and how our perception isn’t always based on what we see, but how we interpret what we see.
In Dr. Nick Baker and Dr. Philip Kellman’s research article, Shape from dots: a window into abstraction processes in visual perception, they explore the concept of separate dots and how they can be perceived as coherent objects in the visual system. They do so by conducting a series of four separate experiments, all achieving different goals to test the visual system. In experiment 1, they test the contour perception of shapes, concluding that dots within surrounding areas of each other can influence whether or not an object is seen as smooth or curvy. In experiment 2, the rate of the shapes is tested, relating back to experiment 1, where the smoother/ more curvier shapes are perceived more coherently than the shapes with a sharper outline. Experiment 3 and 4 they conclude that within these complex arrays, the smoother shapes are easily perceived and compared across different shape orientations.
You might be wondering where this connection can bring us into the world of Neuroscience, but visual perception leads to many doors that are waiting to be opened. More specifically, as young college students, the use of drugs is prevalent within this generation, especially the use of psychedelics. Psychedelics are a 5-HT2A receptor antagonist that binds to the receptor and influence the visual perception of the individual. This is observed in Dr. Whites research in the article; How Psychedelics alter perceptions: A glimpse into the brain’s inner world. In this research it is investigated how these psychedelic substances are able to influence the neuronal activity across different brain regions that are associated with visual processing and memory. The way they tested this was through studying awake mice and observing their neuronal activity through optical imaging. The visual cortex and retro splenial cortex were observed closely revealing that after administration of the psychedelic, the number of 5-Hz oscillations increased to repeating to five times per second. This means that the receptors were increased in spontaneous firing and shows the influence in visual processing through this substance.
Whether it is through the visual processing of shapes through filling in the gaps of dot arrays or understanding how perception changes through the use of drugs. Perception is ever changing and a non-linear idea with no one correct answer, demonstrating the complexity of the brain.
Works Cited
“How Psychedelics Alter Perception: A Glimpse into the Brain’s Inner World.” News, 13 Feb. 2026, www.news-medical.net/news/20260213/How-psychedelics-alter-perception-A-glimpse-into-the-brains-inner-world.aspx.
Baker N and Kellman PJ (2024) Shape from dots: a window into abstraction processes in visual perception.
Front. Comput. Sci. 6:1367534.
doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2024.1367534
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