Phase transitions and bifurcations in visual perception

Illusory contour shapes are ones perceived where contrast clues disappear Contrast contours can be seen as quenched defect cores which induce anti-polar contrast defects around them. These defects, with various shapes mediated by specific image configurations, are embedded in between contrast structures and background and thus provide clues for perceptual organization. When interactions among them are strong enough, these defects may proliferate in certain orientations due to loss of stability. Illusory contours emerge out of images at some critical points as the result of defect proliferation and “glue together” contrast structures. The formation dynamics of illusory contours by a neural network shows that the process is a kind of phase transition and may have interesting crossover behaviors, multiple states and bifurcations