As human beings, our daily interactions and the way we perceive specific stimuli in a seemingly effortless manner is something we tend to not mull over significantly. But when we do take a moment out of our hectic lives to consider all things we blindly accept for what they embody, we may begin to wonder, “Why do I conclude this edge to be an explicit object?” Or perhaps you may even think, “Does this piece of a larger entity stand for the same thing to another individual?” According to vision scientist Irving Biederman, the reason we recognize objects despite viewing only a part of it is because of our ability to practice bottom-up processing when utilizing the recognition by components theory. Any given item we perceive on a daily basis is comprised of main parts, coined as geons (or geometric ions) by Biederman, which can be separated yet continue to maintain a definite image in our minds.

Demonstration found at: faculty.mercer.edu/spears_a/studentpages

In fact, Irving Biederman’s theory of recognition-by-components suggests that less than 36 geons are required to create roughly 30,000 objects we recognize in day-to-day life. A perfect example of this theory is evident in the provided image above. For instance, when I have experienced looking at the appearance of a mug, I am able to break it down into two components: “cylinder” and “handle”. In simpler terms – when a handle is visible in my cupboard, I assume this geon to be but a component of one of my mugs because it matched against stored structural descriptions in my brain. I am able to do this with little effort, despite the fact that this item may vary in comparison to others I have been previously exposed to because of Biederman’s theory of recognition by components.

Although this high-level processing, which happens in our minds as we simultaneously carry on about our days, seems extremely involved (because it is), the majority of us fail to note all these intricacies unless it is brought to our attention! Hopefully the next time you reach for a mug in the morning or run to answer a phone, you’ll take a moment to think of Mr. Biederman, geons, and your brain’s capability to work so flawlessly!