Tadamasa Sawada, Ph.D.

tada.masa.sawada@

.com

SNS

Artworks: Impossible space

Infinite spiral stairs (360° panorama video)

Infinite rectangular stairs (360° panorama image)

Dissonant room (360° panorama image)

Moving impossible objects (video)

Demos

Accidental view (from Sawada, & Volk, 2024)

3D Rotaional-Symmetry (from Sawada, & Zaidi, 2018)

Making a Machine That Sees Like Us (Pizlo, Li, Sawada, & Steinman, 2014)

3D Mirror-Symmetry and Planarity (from Sawada, Li, & Pizlo, 2014)

3D Mirror-Symmetry Construction (from Sawada, Li, & Pizlo, 2011)

3D Shape Recovery (from Pizlo, Sawada, Li, Kropatsch, & Steinman, 2010)

Education

2003-2006: Department of Information Processing, Tokyo Institute of Technology Graduate School, Ph.D.

2001-2003: Department of Information Processing, Tokyo Institute of Technology Graduate School, M.Sc.

1997-2001: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Bachelor Degree of Engineering

Professional Experience

2023-Current: Adjunct lecturer, Akian College of Science and Engineering, American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.

2023-Current: Adjunct lecturer, Department of Psychology, Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University, Yerevan, Armenia.

2022-2024: Adjunct lecturer, European University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.

2022-2024: Visiting lecturer (remote), School of Psychology, National Research University - Higher School of Economics (HSE University), Moscow, Russia.

2014-2022: Assistant Professor (Dotsent), School of Psychology, National Research University - Higher School of Economics (HSE University), Moscow, Russia.

2014-2014: Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Graduate Center for Vision Research, State University of New York College of Optometry, New York, NY.

2013-2014: Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Department of Psychology, the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

2011-2013: Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

2006-2011: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

Professional Affiliations

Vision Sciences Society

Society for Mathematical Psychology

Monograph

Pizlo, Z., Li, Y., Sawada, T., & Steinman, R.M. (2014) Making a Machine That Sees Like Us. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199922543.001.0001

Journals

Myrov, V., Gorina, E., Vodorezova, K., Dvoeglazova, M., Koshmanova, E., Gorbunova, E. S., & Sawada, T. (2024). Understanding the geometrical properties of an Ames room and controlling it systematically and quantitatively. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 123, Article 102885. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2024.102885

Koshmanova, E., Dvoeglazova, M., Myrov, V., Gorina, E., Vodorezova, K., Gorbunova, E. S., & Sawada, T. (2024). The Ames room and the misunderstood versions and depictions. Perception. https://doi.org/10.1177/03010066241272260

Dvoeglazova, M., & Sawada, T. (2024). A role of rectangularity in perceiving a 3D shape of an object. Vision Research, 221, Article 102841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2024.108433

Sawada, T., & Volk, D. (2024). An accidental image feature that appears but not disappears. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 119, Article 108433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2024.102841

Jurcik, T., Zaremba-Pike, S., Kosonogov, V., Mohammed, A. R., Krasavtseva, Y., Sawada, T., Samarina, I., Buranova, N., Adu, P., Sergeev, N., Skuratov, A., Demchenko, A., & Kochetkov, Y. (2024). The efficacy of Augmented Reality exposure therapy in the treatment of spider phobia—A randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1214125. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1214125

Sawada, T. (2023). Effects of violating the assumptions of equal variance and independent and identically distributed random variables: A case using Bayesian statistical modeling. The Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 19(3), 281-295. https://doi.org/10.20982/tqmp.19.3.p281

Sawada, T., & Dvoeglazova, M. (2023). Commentary: Rectangularity is stronger than symmetry in interpreting 2D pictures as 3D objects. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17, Article 1138287. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1138287

Sawada, T., & Pizlo, Z. (2023). Geometrical properties of a generalized cone and its 2D image. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 114, Article 102765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2023.102765

Sawada, T., & Farshchi, M. (2022). Visual detection of 3D mirror-symmetry and 3D rotational-symmetry. Visual Cognition, 30(8), 546-563. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2022.2139314

Sawada, T., Huang, L., & Koryakov, O. Y. (2022). Some misunderstandings in psychology about confidence intervals. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 948423. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.948423

Sawada, T., & Pizlo, Z. (2022). Testing a formal theory of perception is not easy: Comments on Yu, Todd & Petrov (2021) and Yu, Petrov & Todd (2021). Journal of Vision, 22(4):15, 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.22.4.15

Sawada, T., Mendoza Arvizu, A., Farshchi, M., & Kiba, A. (2022). Navigation in contour-drawn scenes using augmented reality. i-Perception, 13(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1177/20416695221074707

Sawada, T. (2021). Recovering depth from stereo-input without using any oculomotor information: A computation model. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 102, Article 102538. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2021.102538

Sawada, T. (2021). Conditions of the central-limit theorem are rarely satisfied in empirical psychological studies. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 762418. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.762418

Farshchi, M., Kiba, A., & Sawada, T. (2021). Seeing our 3D world while only viewing contour-drawings. PloS One, 16(1), Article e0242581. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242581

Dvoeglazova, M., Koshmanova, E., & Sawada, T. (2021). Visual sensitivity to parallel configurations of contours compared with sensitivity to other configurations. Vision Research, 188, 149-161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2021.07.006

Minkov, V., & Sawada, T. (2021). Theoretical treatment of limitations inherent in simple 3D stimuli: Triangles and the P3P problem. MDPI Vision, 5(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/vision5010010

Mischenko, E., Negishi, I., Gorbunova, E. S., & Sawada, T. (2020). Examining the role of familiarity in the perception of depth. MDPI Vision, 4(2), Article 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/vision4020021

Sawada, T. (2020). Influence of 3D centro-symmetry on a 2D retinal image. MDPI Symmetry, 12(11), Article 1863. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12111863

Sawada, T., & Rozhkova, G. I. (2020). Two rediscoveries of the autostereogram in the 1960s. i-Perception, 11(1), 2041669520908895. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669520908895

Koshmanova, E. & Sawada, T. (2019). Perceiving perpendicular and parallel contours in the frontoparallel plane. Vision Research, 154, 97-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2018.11.003

Sawada, T. & Zaidi, Q. (2018). Rotational-symmetry in a 3D scene and its 2D image. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 87, 108-125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2018.10.001

Jayadevan, V. T., Sawada, T., Delp, E., & Pizlo, Z. (2018). Perception of 3D symmetrical and nearly symmetrical shapes. MDPI Symmetry, 10, 8:344, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym10080344

Sawada, T., & Petrov, A.A. (2017). The divisive-normalization model of V1 neurons: A comprehensive comparison of physiological data and model predictions. Journal of Neurophysiology, 118, 3051-3091. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00821.2016

Kwon, T., Li, Y., Sawada, T., & Pizlo, Z. (2016). Gestalt-like constraints produce veridical (Euclidean) percepts of 3D indoor scenes. Vision Research, 126, 264-277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2015.09.011

Sawada, T., Li, Y., & Pizlo, Z. (2014). Detecting 3D mirror-symmetry in a 2D camera image. Proceedings of IEEE, 102(10), 1588-1606. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2014.2344001

Li, Y., Sawada, T., Latecki, L.M., Steinman, R.M., & Pizlo, Z. (2012). A tutorial explaining a machine vision model that emulates human performance when it recovers natural 3D scenes from 2D images. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 56(4), 217-231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2012.07.001

Sawada, T., Li, Y., & Pizlo, Z. (2011). Any pair of 2D curves is consistent with a 3D symmetric interpretation. MDPI Symmetry, 3(2), 365-388. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym3020365 (demos)

Li, Y., Sawada, T., Shi, Y., Kwon, T., & Pizlo, Z. (2011). A Bayesian model of binocular perception of 3D mirror symmetrical polyhedra. Journal of Vision, 11(4):11, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1167/11.4.11

Tsuruhara, A., Sawada, T., Kanazawa, S., Yamaguchi, M., Corrow, S., & Yonas, A. (2010). The development of the ability of infants to utilize static cues to create and access representations of object shape. Journal of Vision, 10(12):2, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1167/10.12.2

Sawada, T. (2010). Visual detection of symmetry of 3D shapes. Journal of Vision, 10(6):4, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1167/10.6.4

Pizlo, Z., Sawada, T., Li, Y., Kropatsch, W., & Steinman, R.M. (2010). New approach to the perception of 3D shape based on veridicality, complexity, symmetry and volume. Vision Research, 50(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2009.09.024 (demos)

Tsuruhara, A., Sawada, T., Kanazawa, S., Yamaguchi, M., & Yonas, A. (2009). Infant's ability to form a common representation of an object's shape from different pictorial depth cues: A transfer-across-cues study. Infant Behavior and Development, 32(4), 468-475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2009.09.002

Sawada, T., & Pizlo, Z. (2008). Detection of skewed symmetry. Journal of Vision, 8(5):14, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1167/8.5.14

Sawada, T., & Kaneko, H. (2007). Smooth-shape assumption for perceiving shapes from shading. Perception, 36(3), 403-415. https://doi.org/10.1068/p5628

Sawada, T., & Kaneko, H. (2006). Extracting illuminant direction from visual information for perceiving shape from shading. The Journal of the Vision Society of Japan, 18(4), 161-172 (in Japanese).

Sawada, T., & Kaneko, H. (2003). Spatial properties of multiple cues for perceiving shape from shading. The Journal of the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers, 57(5), 597-602 (in Japanese).

Book Chapters

Sawada, T., Li, Y., & Pizlo, Z. (2015). Shape perception. In J. Busemeyer, J. Townsend, Z. J. Wang, & A. Eidels (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Computational and Mathematical Psychology (pp. 255-276). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Li, Y., Sawada, T., Shi, Y., Steinman, R.M., & Pizlo, Z. (2013). Symmetry is the sine qua non of shape. In S. Dickinson & Z. Pizlo (Eds.), Shape perception in Human & Computer Vision (pp. 21-40). New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5195-1_2

Sawada, T., Li, Y., & Pizlo, Z. (2011). Symmetry, shapes and surfaces. In C. W. Tyler (Ed.), Computational Vision: From Surfaces to Objects (pp. 113-124). Boca Raton, FL: Chapman Hall/CRC.

Book Review

Sawada, T., & Pizlo, Z. (2008). There is no royal road to vision science. Review of Seeing Spatial Form, by Jenkin, M.R.M., & Harris, L.R. eds. Perception, 37(10), 1612-1616. https://doi.org/10.1068/p3710rvw

Conference Proceedings (Refereed)

Li, Y., Sawada, T., & Pizlo, Z. (2012). Building a seeing machine. The 21th Behavior Representation in Modeling & Simulation (BRIMS) Conference. (pdf)

Pizlo, Z., Li, Y., & Sawada, T. (2012). Making a machine that sees like us. The 13th NDIA Annual Science & Engineering Technology Conference/Defense Tech Exposition.

Sawada, T., & Pizlo, Z. (2008). Detecting mirror-symmetry of a volumetric shape from its single 2D image. The Sixth IEEE Computer Society Workshop on Perceptual Organization in Computer Vision in Conjunction with IEEE CVPR 2008. https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPRW.2008.4562976 (pdf)

Sawada, T., & Pizlo, Z. (2007). Symmetry detection in 3D scenes. Proceedings of SPIE, 6498, 64980Y/1-12. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.715160

Tree

Neurotree

Erdos3 (after Longin J. Latecki)