Roland W. Fleming, PhD

Short info

My research focusses on human visual perception of materials and objects.

Which visual cues does the brain use to identify the physical properties of things and stuff in our surroundings?  Which learning processes shape the representations? How does spatiotemporal context alter our perception of surfaces and objects?  How do we reason about and visually predict physical events, like bouncing objects or oozing liquids? How do our percepts evolve over time when viewing complex dynamical processes, and how do gain control and prediction contribute? How do we plan and execute effective interactions with objects and materials?

To answer questions like these, my lab uses a combination of visual psychophysics, motion tracking, computer graphics, image analysis and computational modelling including deep learning approaches.

Articles

Aubuchon, C., Emily, A., Domini, F., Muryy, A., & Fleming, R. W. (2025).
Perceived 3D shape of mirror-like objects: interactions of monocular and binocular cues.
Journal of Vision, 25(9), 2483-2483.

Aubuchon, C., Vergne, R., Cholewiak, S. A., Kunsberg, B., Holtmann-Rice, D., Zucker, S., & Fleming, R. (2024).
(2024). Orientation fields predict perception of 3D shape from shading.

Cheeseman, J. R., Ferwerda, J. A., Morimoto, T., & Fleming, R. W. (2025).
Gloss discrimination: Toward an image-based perceptual model.
Journal of Vision, 25(10), 6.

Cheeseman, J. R., Fleming, R. W., & Schmidt, F. (2022).
Scale ambiguities in material recognition.
iScience, 25(3):103970.

Dehn, K. I., Maiello, G., Hartmann, F. T., Morgenstern, Y., Hawkins, S. J., Offner, T., ... & Fleming, R. W. (2025).
Human shape perception spontaneously discovers the biological origin of novel, but natural, stimuli.
Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 22(226), 20240931.

Filip, J., Dechterenko, F., Schmidt, F., Lukavsky, J., Kotera, J., Vilimovska, V., & Fleming, R. W. (2025).
Material fingerprinting: predicting human perception of material appearance through psychophysical analysis and neural networks.
Royal Society Open Science, 12(11).

Filip, J., Lukavský, J., Děchtěrenko, F., Schmidt, F., & Fleming, R. W. (2024).
Perceptual dimensions of wood materials.
Journal of Vision, 24(5), 12.

Flachot, A., Akbarinia, A., Schütt, H. H., Fleming, R. W., Wichmann, F. A., & Gegenfurtner, K. R. (2022).
Deep neural models for color classification and color constancy.
Journal of vision, 22(4), 17-17.

Goll, Z. R., Schmidt, F., A-Izzeddin, E. J., Aubuchon, C., Kiliç, F., & Fleming, R. W. (2025).
Spatio-chromatic cues in shape and material perception.
Journal of Vision, 25(9), 2088-2088.

Guerrero‐Viu, J., Subias, J. D., Serrano, A., Storrs, K. R., Fleming, R. W., Masia, B., & Gutierrez, D. (2024).
Predicting Perceived Gloss: Do Weak Labels Suffice?.
Computer Graphics Forum (43)2, e15037.

Lepori, F., Hartmann, F. T., Dehn, K. I., Chessa, M., Fleming, R. W., & Maiello, G. (2025).
Does precision grip research extend to unconstrained, multidigit grasping?.
Journal of Neurophysiology, 133(6), 1836-1843.

Liao, C., Cheeseman, J., Schmidt, F., Fleming, R. W., & Xiao, B. (2025).
Visual Adaptation of Complex Material Appearances.
Journal of Vision, 25(9), 2223-2223.

Preißler, L., Jovanovic, B., Munzert, J., Schmidt, F., Fleming, R.W., & Schwarzer, G. (2021).
Effects of visual and visual-haptic perception of material rigidity on reaching and grasping in the course of development.
Acta Psychologica, 221, November, 103457.

Prokott, E., & Fleming, R. W. (2022).
Identifying specular highlights: Insights from deep learning.
Journal of vision, 22(7), 6-6.

Schmidt, F., Emily, A., Tiedemann, H., Houborg, C., & Fleming, R. W. (2025).
Identifying features for superordinate object classification through creative drawings.
Journal of Vision, 25(9), 2361-2361.

Schmidt, F., Hebart, M. N., Schmid, A. C., & Fleming, R. W. (2025).
Core dimensions of human material perception.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(10), e2417202122.

Schmidt, F., Tiedemann, H., Fleming, R. W., & Morgenstern, Y. (2023).
Inferring shape transformations in a drawing task.
Memory & Cognition.

Stewart, E. E., Fleming, R. W., & Schütz, A. C. (2024).
A simple optical flow model explains why certain object viewpoints are special.
bioRxiv,2023-10.

Stewart, E. M. M., & Fleming, R. W. (2023).
The eyes anticipate where an object will move based on its shape.
Current Biology, 33(17), R894-R895.

Stewart, E. M., & Fleming R. W. (2023).
The eyes anticipate where an object will move based on its shape.
Current Biology, 33(17), R894-R895.

Stewart, E.E.M., Hartmann, F.T., Morgenstern, Y., Storrs, K.R., Maiello G., & Fleming R.W. (2022).
Mental object rotation based on two-dimensional visual representations.
Current Biology 32, R1201–R1225.

Storrs, K. R., Anderson, B. L., & Fleming, R. W. (2021).
Unsupervised learning predicts human perception and misperception of gloss.
Nature Human Behaviour, 1-16.

Sun, H. C., & Fleming, R. (2025).
Material image morph and binocular integration.
Journal of Vision, 25(9), 1866-1866.

Sun, H. C., Schmidt, F., Schmid, A. C., Hebart, M. N., & Fleming, R. W. (2024).
Cortical representations of core visual material dimensions.
Journal of Vision, 24(10), 285-285.

Tamura, H., Prokott, K. E., & Fleming, R. W. (2022).
Distinguishing mirror from glass: A “big data” approach to material perception.
Journal of vision, 22(4), 4-4.

Tiedemann, H., Morgenstern, Y., Schmidt, F., & Fleming, R. W. (2022).
One-shot generalization in humans revealed through a drawing task.
eLife, 11.

Tiedemann, H., Schmidt, F., Fleming, R.W. (2022).
Superordinate Categorization Based on the Perceptual Organization of Parts.
Brain Sciences, 12, 667.