Visual Perception 1 / Top-Down Visual Processing

This multicolored contour sketch done by artist and illustrator  Charmaine Olivia demonstrates a few of the many components and principles of top down visual processing.  The main silhouette is the focal point of the image and the first thing we notice and so we make the biased decision to notice it first because it uses the boldest color contrast. The artist does this so that we can first remain fixated on the main subject.  From there, our scan path moves to down to the smaller detail of other body silhouettes drawn on the body on the large scale figure.  Our eyelids are forced to make rapid saccades because of all of the tiny lines overlapping each other all throughout the image and the mixing of fatter and skinnier lines and hidden elements that you slowly start to notice.  This kind of approach to design and illustration is present in many of the artist's works. (sketches from <http://www.charmaineolivia.com/portfolio/artwork/>)