Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen 
Fachbereich 06, Psychologie und Sportwissenschaft
Abteilung Allgemeine Psychologie
Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10F
35394 Giessen

Campus: Building F2, Room 338
Phone: +49(0)641 / 99-26140
Fax: +49(0)641 / 99-26119
Email:

Research Interests

Visual Perception of the Physical Properties of Objects

Research in my lab focusses on how the brain visually estimates the physical and functional properties of objects in our surroundings.

When we look at things, we don't experience the world as a meaningless jumble of lines, colours or motions. Instead, whenever we open our eyes, we immediately gain access to a richly detailed world of meaningful visual sensations. We recognise objects; perceive what things are made of; identify risk and pleasures and can even work out how objects might respond to forces or actions. Based on how things look, we are able to make a remarkable range of subtle judgements about the physical properties of objects, such as whether food is fresh or stale or whether an object is stable or likely to topple over. Without touching an object, we can usually work out what it would feel like were we to reach out and touch it, based on the curves and contours of its shape and the way light plays across its surface. My research program aims to understand how the brain estimates the 3D shape of surfaces, and the material properties of objects such as elasticity, translucency or viscosity. In order to do this, we use a combination of computer graphics, image analysis techniques, neural modelling and psychophysical experiments.


Keywords: 3D Shape | Material Perception | Perceptual Organization | Object Categorization | Naive Physics | Computer Graphics

Short Bio

Roland Fleming read PPP at Oxford, and did his PhD at MIT. After a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, he joined Giessen University, where he is currently the Kurt Koffka Professor of Experimental Psychology. His research combines psychophysics, neural modelling, computer graphics and image analysis to understand how the brain estimates the physical properties of objects. He coordinated the EU-funded Marie Curie Training Network "PRISM: Perceptual Representation of Illumination, Shape and Materials". In 2013 he was awarded the Young Investigator Award by the Vision Sciences Society, and in 2016 an ERC Consolidator Award for the project "SHAPE: On the perception of growth, form and process".

Articles in press and pre-prints

Fleming, R.W. and K.R. Storrs (in press). Learning to See Stuff. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

Klein L.K.*, Maiello G.*, Paulun V.C. and Fleming, R.W. (2019). How humans grasp three-dimensional objects. bioRxiv, 476176. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/476176

Tamura, H., Prokott, K.E. and Fleming, R.W. (2019). Distinguishing mirror from glass: A 'big data' approach to material perception. arXiv:1903.01671.

Journal Publications

Zoeller, A.C., Lezkan, A., Paulun V.C., Fleming, R.W. and K. Drewing (2019). Integration of prior knowledge during haptic exploration depends on information type. Journal of Vision, 19(4):20. DOI: 10.1167/19.4.20

Maiello G., Paulun V.C., Klein L.K. and Fleming, R.W. (2019). Object visibility, not energy expenditure, accounts for spatial biases in human grasp selection. i-Perception, 10(1). DOI: doi: 10.1177/2041669519827608

Schmidt F., Phillips F. and Fleming, R.W. (2019). Visual perception of shape-transforming processes: 'Shape Scission'. Cognition,189, 167-180. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.04.006

Fleming, R.W. and Schmidt F. (2019). Getting "fumpered": Classifying objects by what has been done to them. Journal of Vision,19(4):15, 1–12. DOI: 10.1167/19.4.15

Paulun VC, Buckingham G, Goodale MA and Fleming, R.W. (2019). The Material-Weight Illusion disappears or inverts in objects made of two materials. Journal of Neurophysiology,121: 996–1010. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00199.2018

Schmidt, F. and Fleming, R.W. (2018). Identifying shape transformations from photographs of real objects. PLoS ONE,13(8): e0202115. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202115

Maiello, G., Paulun, V.C., Klein, L.K. and Fleming, R.W. (2018). The Sequential-Weight Illusion. i-Perception,9(4), 1–6. DOI: 10.1177/2041669518790275

Kunsberg, B., Holtmann-Rice, D., Alexander, E., Cholewiak, S., Fleming, R.W., Zucker, S.W. (2018). Colour, contours, shading and shape: flow interactions reveal anchor neighbourhoods. Interface Focus, 8: 20180019 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2018.001945

Van Assen, J.J., Barla, P. and R.W. Fleming (2018). Visual Features in the Perception of Liquids. Current Biology, 28(3), 452–458 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.037

Schmidt, F., Hegele, M. and R.W. Fleming (2017). Perceiving animacy from shape. Journal of Vision, 17(11):10 DOI: 10.1167/17.11.10

R.W. Fleming (2017). Material Perception. Annual Reviews of Vision Science, 3(1). 365-388. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-vision-102016-061429

Vangorp, P., Barla, P. R.W. Fleming (2017). The perception of hazy gloss. Journal of Vision, 17(5):19. DOI: 10.1167/17.5.19

Schmidt, F., Paulun, V.C., van Assen J.J.R. R.W. Fleming (2017). Inferring the stiffness of unfamiliar objects from optical, shape, and motion cues. Journal of Vision, 17(3):18. DOI: 10.1167/17.3.18

Paulun, V.C., Schmidt, F., Van Assen, J.J. and R.W. Fleming (2017). Shape, motion and optical cues to stiffness of elastic objects. Journal of Vision, 17(1):20, 1-22. DOI: 10.1167/17.1.20

Van Assen, J.J. and R.W. Fleming (2016). Influence of optical material properties on the perception of liquids. Journal of Vision, 16(15):12, 1-20. DOI: 10.1167/16.15.12

Spröte, P., Schmidt, F and R.W. Fleming (2016). Visual perception of shape altered by inferred causal history. Scientific Reports, 6:36245. DOI: 10.1038/srep36245.

Schmidt, F and R.W. Fleming (2016). Visual perception of complex shape-transforming processes. Cognitive Psychology, 90: 48-70.

Vergne, R., Barla P., Bonneau, G.-P. and R. W. Fleming (2016). Flow-Guided Warping for Image-Based Shape Manipulation. ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 2016), 35(4): 93. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2897824.2925937.

Sun, H-C, Di Luca, M, Ban, H, Muryy, A, Fleming RW and AE Welchman (2016). Differential processing of binocular and monocular gloss cues in human visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology, 115(6):2779-90. doi: 10.1152/jn.00829.2015.

Muryy, A.A., R.W. Fleming and A.E. Welchman (2016). 'Proto-rivalry': how the binocular brain identifies gloss. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (B), 283: 20160383. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0383

Paulun, V.C., Gegenfurtner, K.R., Goodale, M.A. and R.W. Fleming (2016). Effects of material properties and object orientation on precision grip kinematics. Experimental Brain Research, doi: 10.1007/s00221-016-4631-7

Zhang, F., de Ridder, H., R.W. Fleming and S. Pont (2016). MatMix 1.0: Using optical mixing to probe visual material perception. Journal of Vision, 16(6):11, 1-18 doi:10.1167/16.6.11.

Schütt, H.H., Baier, F. and R.W. Fleming (2016). Perception of light source distance from shading patterns. Journal of Vision, 16(3):9. doi: 10.1167/16.3.9.

Spröte, P. and R.W. Fleming (2015). Bent out of shape: The visual inference of non-rigid shape transformations applied to objects. Vision Research, doi:10.1016/j.visres.2015.08.009

Schmidt, F., Spröte, P. and R.W. Fleming (2015). Perception of shape and space across rigid transformations Vision Research, doi:10.1016/j.visres.2015.04.011

Fleming, R.W. (2015). Visual Development: Learning Not to See. Current Biology, 25(24): R1166-R1168.

Paulun, V.C., Kawabe, T., Nishida, S. and R.W. Fleming (2015). Seeing liquids from static snapshots. Vision Research, Vol 115, Part B: 163-174.

Kawabe, T., Maruya, K., Fleming, R.W. and S. Nishida (2015). Seeing liquids from visual motion. Vision Research, Vol 109, Part B: 125-138.

Cholewiak, S.A., Fleming, R.W. and M. Singh (2015). Perception of physical stability and center of mass of 3-D objects. Journal of Vision, 15(2): 13; doi:10.1167/15.2.13

Muryy, A., R.W. Fleming and A.E. Welchman (2014). Key characteristics of specular stereo. Journal of Vision, 14(14): 14; doi:10.1167/14.14.14

Fleming, R.W. (2014). Visual Perception of Materials and their Properties. Vision Research, 94, 62-75

Spröte, P. and R.W. Fleming (2013). Concavities, Negative Parts and the Perception that Shapes are "Complete". Journal of Vision, 13(14):3, 1-23; doi:10.1167/13.14.3

Doerschner, K., Yilmaz, O., Kucukoglu, G and R.W. Fleming (2013). Effects of surface reflectance and 3D shape on perceived rotation axis. Journal of Vision, 13(11): 8; doi:10.1167/13.11.8

Fleming, R.W., Wiebel, C. and K. Gegenfurtner (2013). Perceptual qualities and material classes. Journal of Vision, 13(8): 9; doi:10.1167/13.8.9

Cholewiak, S.A., Fleming, R.W. and M. Singh (2013). Perception of the physical stability of asymmetrical three-dimensional objects. Journal of Vision, 13(4): 12; doi:10.1167/13.4.12

Muryy, A., Welchman, A.E., Blake, A. and R.W. Fleming (2013). Specular reflections and the estimation of shape from binocular disparity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(6): 2413-2418.

Fleming R.W. (2012). Human Perception: Visual Heuristics in the Perception of Glossiness. Current Biology, 22(20):R865-R866.

Gaißert N., Waterkamp S., Fleming R.W. and I. Bülthoff (2012). Haptic Categorical Perception of Shape. PLoS ONE 7(8): e43062. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043062.

Vergne, R., Barla, P., Fleming, R.W., X. Granier, (2012). Surface Flows for Image-Based Shading Design. ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH). 31(4), Article 94. doi:10.1145/2185520.2185590.

Fleming, R. W., Holtmann-Rice, D. and H. H. Bülthoff (2011). Estimation of 3D shape from image orientations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(51) 20438-20443.

Doerschner, K. Fleming, R.W., Yilmaz, O., Schrater, P.R., Hartung, B. and Kersten, D. (2011). Visual Motion and the Perception of Surface Material. Current Biology, 21(23): 1-7.

Barnett-Cowan M., Fleming R.W., Singh M. and HH. Bülthoff (2011). Perceived Object Stability Depends on Multisensory Estimates of Gravity. PLoS ONE 6(4): 1-5.

Fleming, R.W. (2011). Visual Perception: Bizarre Contours Go Against the Odds. Current Biology, 21(7): R259-R261.

Fleming, R.W., Jäkel, F. and L. T. Maloney (2011). Visual Perception of Thick Transparent Materials. Psychological Science, 22(6): 812-820.

Wallraven, C., Fleming, R. W., Cunningham, D. W., Rigau, J., Feixas, M. and M. Sbert (2009). Categorizing art: Comparing humans and computers. Computers and Graphics, 33(4), 484-495.

Masia, B., Agustin, S., Fleming, R. W., Sorkine, O. and D. Gutierrez (2009). Evaluation of reverse tone mapping through varying exposure conditions. ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH Asia) 28(5:160), 1-8.

Akyüz, A. O., Fleming, R. W., Riecke, B. E., Reinhard, E. and H. H. Bülthoff (2007). Do HDR displays support LDR content?: a psychophysical evaluation. ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 07) 26(3:38), 1-7.

Weidenbacher, U., Bayerl, P., Neumann, H. and R. W. Fleming (2006). Sketching Shiny Surfaces: 3D Shape Extraction and Depiction of Specular Surfaces. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 3(3), 262-285.

Kahn, E. A., Reinhard, E., Fleming, R. W. and Bülthoff, H. H. (2006). Image-Based Material Editing. ACM Transactions on Graphics (Proceedings of SIGGRAPH 06), 25(3), 654-663.

Fleming, R. W. and Bülthoff, H. H. (2005). Low-level image cues in the perception of translucent materials. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 2(3), 346-382.

Fleming, R. W., Torralba, A. and Adelson, E. H. (2004). Specular reflections and the perception of shape. Journal of Vision, 4(9), 798-820.

Fleming, R. W., Dror, R. O. and E. H. Adelson (2003). Real world illumination and the perception of surface reflectance properties. Journal of Vision, 3(5), 347-368.

Anderson, B. L., Singh, M and R. W. Fleming (2002). The Interpolation of Object and Surface Structure. Cognitive Psychology, 44, 148-190.

Current Funding

EU Marie Sklodowska Curie Innovative Training Network (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016): 721312— DyViTo
Role: PI
Consortium Title: "Dynamic Vision and Touch"
Project Title: "A Perceptual Standard for High Gloss Materials"



ERC Consolidator Award: 682589 — SHAPE
Role: PI (Coordinator)
Project Title: "Shape Understanding: On the Perception of Growth, Form and Process"



DFG: SFB-TRR-135 "Cardinal Mechanisms of Perception"
Role: PI for Project C1
Project Title: "Visual Categorization and Prediction of Deformable Materials"



DFG: IRTG 1901 "The Brain in Action"
Role: PI
Project Title: "Effects of Perceived Material Properties on Action"

Previous Funding

EU Marie Curie Initial Training Network (FP7-PEOPLE-ITN-2012)
Role: Coordinator
Consortium Title: "PRISM: Perceptual Representations of Illumination, Shape and Materials"
Partners: Giessen, TU Delft, Birmingham, Leuven, Paris Descartes, INRIA, Bilkent, Philips, NextLimit


NSF-BMBF Joint Program in Computational Neuroscience (FKZ: 01GQ1111)
Role: PI
Project Title: "Towards a Neural Theory of 3D Shape Perception"
Co-PI: Prof. Steven Zucker, Dept. Computer Science, Yale University


Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Tübingen (FKZ: 01GQ1002)
Role: PI
Project title: "Population Codes for 3D Shape Perception".
Project Collaborator: Dr. Georgios Keleris.



Australian Research Council.
Role: PI
Project title: "The perception of surfaces and materials."
CI: Prof. Bart Anderson; co-PI: Dr. Juno Kim. School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Australia.



Wellcome Trust (UK).
Role: Co-PI.
Project title: "On reflection: the role of disparities in the estimation of shape from specular surfaces"
Co-PI: Dr. Andrew Welchman
Collaborator: Prof. Andrew Blake, FRS, FREng.

2006 - 2009: BW-FIT (State of Baden-Württemberg).
Role: PI.
Consortium title: "Information at your fingertips"
Project title: "Tracking and predicting gaze direction of a freely moving observer interacting with a large high resolution display"
Collaborator: Prof. Oliver Deussen, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Konstanz.



2006 - 2009: DFG (German Research Foundation): FL 624/1-1
Role: PI.
Consortium title: "Perceptual Graphics"
Project title: "Human visual perception and classification of materials".
Collaborator: Prof. Reinhard Klein, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Bonn.